


The lonely blue dove

by Emiliethedreamer



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Angst, Arranged Marriage, Astre finds happiness, Astre is forgotten, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Loneliness, Marriage, Romance, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:20:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 80,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25311499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emiliethedreamer/pseuds/Emiliethedreamer
Summary: We all know the story of "Ciel" and the story of the demon Sebastian.But what if the kidnappers managed to get caught before they entered the mansion? If Vincent and Rachel never died? And "Ciel" was not a male, but a female.We follow Astre (our Ciel) Phantomhive life as an outcast and solely because of her illness and family members.(And yes all the main characters are in it. It's not historically accurate. I don't own anything. Only the OC's are mine. )
Relationships: Anne Envie D'aventure | OC/ Liam Jardins Verts | OC, Astre Phantomhive/Lois II|OC, Elizabeth Midford/Ciel Phantomhive, Rachel Phantomhive/Vincent Phantomhive
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Astre's sickness

Ciel and Astre had always been close ever since they were little. That was until Astre got the disease asthma as a 5-year-old.

Astre's lungs coughed up and she had difficulty breathing. Astre fell to her knees in the middle of the dance hall as she tried hard to breathe. Next to her stood Astre's brother, helping her while he frantically asked if anything was wrong.

"Astre are you okay? What happened?" he kept asking. Ciel was panicking. He didn't want his sister to die, because she was his everything. His sister, his friend, and himself. Elizabeth, who had been playing with the two twins, had quickly run after the twins' mother Rachel, who had been sitting and watching the children play but had been away for a while.

"ASTRE" she had shouted and run through the hall to pick up her coughing daughter from the floor. Elizabeth took her fiancé by the hand and followed after the panicked mother.

As they ran, Astre lost consciousness and fell into darkness.

____________  
When Astre's eyes opened she could see nothing but the bright rays of the sun shining in through the windows, but after her gaze got better she could see her aunt Anne sitting next to her.

Aunt Anne's red hair was set up in a bun, but there were still two hair tufts hanging in front of her eyes. Her red hair matched with the dark red dress she was wearing. In addition to her red eyes, she had put on her glasses, which she used to examine the boys when they became ill. Aunt Anne's red lips moved and seemed to form words.

"She looks like you, Rachel, when you're getting sick, so it's probably the same disease she inherited from you," she said quietly with one forefinger pointing out all the symptoms. The hot forehead. The slow breathing. Mucus that had settled in the corner of the mouth.

Behind her stood Astre's mother, Rachel, looking with a gaze mixed between questioning and worrying expressions. Her fair hair was, like Aunt Anne's hair, set up in a bun, but she had the opposite of Aunt Anne only a tot that fell down over her right ear. Her worrying blue peacock eyes were directed at her sister. Behind the matte pink dress stood Elizabeth looking at Aunt Anne.

At the foot of the bed stood Astre's brother, Ciel, looking with a worried look. He was wearing the brown jacket with the white bow under his chin. Astre had been wearing a brown dress with a jacket similar to her brother.

"I think it's best for her to stay inside from now on," said Aunt Anne, rising from her chair. Astre's mother and Elizabeth followed her out the door so the twins were left in the room alone. Astre had turned around and complained about how hot she was.

“Astre… are you okay? I'm here, okay? ” Ciel said quietly, walking towards his sister's sickbed. He sat down on the edge of the bed, where he afterward reached out his hand to ask if Astre would hold his hand. Astre had quickly taken it but remained to lie where she was.

The rest of the day, Astre lay on her bed while Ciel sat next to her and said that it was going to be alright. Later in the evening, the father of the twins came in. Vincent seemed to have run, which Astre had guessed when Vincent came half-running and walking in the door and all the way to his sick daughter.

"Astre…" he said in a quiet tone as he sat down on her bed. Astre slowly struggled to sit down next to her father, but he just asked her to stay put. He had squatted down next to her and kissed her little hand.  
When it was time for the twins, Ciel refused to leave his sick sister and lay down under the quilt next to the already sleeping sister. Their butler Tanaka had already said goodnight to the twins after picking up their plates since Ciel would not leave Astre.

"No matter what Astre, we are one and the same twin," said Ciel, placing his hand on Astre's cheek.

“Promise?”

“Promise”. 

The two siblings lay facing each other and held each other.

Since that day, Astre was denied outside. She sat in and out of her room, but Astre's brother always made sure it was fun when he came and told her what had happened.


	2. The long day

Ever since Astre was locked inside her room, it had been hard for her to do anything that could motivate her to get through the day. Inside the twins' room, there was a window that had been opened, and outside she could hear her brother and cousin playing together. Why was it she always had to sit inside the room?

There were a few times where she had tried to sneak out the door, but she had always been caught in it. Her mother, father, brother, cousin, and Sebastian, their dog, had caught her and asked where she was going. Sometimes Astre had lied and said she just needed to stretch her legs, but she always ended up telling the truth in the end.

Today was one of those days.

____________

Slowly, Astre went to her door and opened it slowly, but it was not long before she heard a black dog barking at her. She screamed and looked at Sebastian in horror as he stood barking at her, but she opened the door anyway. Sebastian kept barking at her as she took a chair. As she touched the chair, Sebastian nipped her with its nose.

"Ov! It hurts. Stop it!" shouted Astre at Sebastian, but Sebastian did not stop and neither did Astre. When Astre had come down the hall with a window view to the garden, she had finally had enough of Sebastian's barking. She stubbornly put the chair down in front of the window and looked annoyed at Sebastian.

“You do this every day. I'm not going out. I'm only looking out to the others”. That made Sebastian stop. He turned around and sat down in front of her to keep watch. She smiled at the dog and turned around to open the window.

As she pushed the window open she looked down into the garden. Ciel and Elizabeth played prisoner games with her aunt Anne. Astre's mother sat on a chair not too far away, holding an umbrella over her head. Astre and her mother both had asthma, but Astre thought it was unfair that she should play the princess in the tower and look down on her mother, who could be outside without anything happening.

Finally, Aunt Anne had caught Elizabeth and Ciel and was sitting in front of her mother, while she was stroking their hair. They all laughed, which made Astre feel alone. She coughed a little, which was often a warning that she had been outside for too long, but she ignored it. She would not miss this moment with her family even if she was not a part of it.

As she looked out the window, Sebastian turned around and had his snout far away from her. She looked at it wondering.

"Sebastian?" she asked questioningly as the dog went its way. Was there something wrong with her family? Did anyone visit? Or was her father at home…?

"See! Dad has come home,” Ciel shouted down from the garden. Astre turned around and saw her father walking down the lawn towards his mother, who was still sitting on the chair, and Aunt Anne, who was sitting on her knees, where she had been left. Elizabeth and Ciel both ran into his arms and were hugged. Ciel was lifted up from the ground by Vincent while laughing together. Sebastien jumped around Vincent, but quickly relaxed and walked over to Rachel, after which it lay down next to her.

The last thing Astre saw from that scene was that her father had put Ciel down again and kissed his wife hello. Astre had jumped down from her chair and ran all the way to her and Ciel's room, which was a stupid idea as her breathing got heavier and heavier. She slammed the door and ran to her bed, after which she hid under the duvet while crying.

Those moments down on the lawn were what she missed because of her illness. There were many times that Ciel had come up to her to tell about all the fun moments they had together, but it was the very presence she lacked off from the stories he told.

“Astre come! Something exciting is happening!” yelled Ciel, when he burst in the door. It looked like Elizabeth had been taken home and now he needed one to play with.

"Where are we going?" asked Astre, getting up from the bed while she wiped tears that had escaped her eyes. If Ciel had noticed it, he did nothing to tell that he had discovered them. He stood and jumped up and down while seeming happy. Astre was known to be the patient in their family while Ciel was not.

"Come on!" he said happily, grabbing Astre's wrist, after which they both ran out the door and down the hall. They stopped as they stood on the balcony with the stairs to the ground floor. Servants around the two twins looked down at them with a smile as they walked by. Ciel smiled and leaned over the railing to see the person who had come home to them. Astre had fallen to her knees as she tried hard to breathe. The thing about running was probably not such a good idea anyway, but on the other hand, it was the only time she felt alive.

"It seems interesting. Shall we check it out?” asked Ciel. He already had his hand out to expect Astre to receive it. They were always out for trouble the two of them. If it was not for the fact that Astre had her hair in a ponytail and was wearing a dress, people sometimes think that they were two boys.

"I don’t think we should, what if we get discovered?" asked Astre, looking with a questioning look at her brother. Ciel shrugged and lifted his sister off the floor.

"It’ll be fine," he said, already running with her down the hall. It was not long before the two twins stood behind a curtain of sight into the conservatory.

The conservatory was a round room with tall windows that had curved tops. Around the edge of the room were flowers from different countries. Inside the center of the room was a compass down on the floor made of marble. On top of the compass stood a round table, which had two layers of a tablecloth. One white and one blue. On top of the table was covered with teacups, teapot, dessert plates, a carry for cakes, and a vase of flowers

Vincent’s friend looked towards the two twins behind the curtain, which gave a gibberish in Astre. She quickly hid behind the curtain, but her brother leaned further forward.

“Just get out of the curtain. I'm not doing anything to you," said Vincent's friend. Ciel started walking towards them while saying that they should just hear what the friend was saying, but Astre was a little more cautious and stayed where she was. Ciel hurried quickly to his father after which he was lifted. Astre felt a twinge of jealousy but did not show it.

Vincent teased his friend by saying they were only afraid of him because he always looked so angry, which his friend did not think he did. Astre stood still behind the curtain and saw it all before her eyes. What was it like having friends? When did Astre make real friends and not just her brother? Would she ever get friends? As she looked at her father and her friend, she could feel that she was missing a friend to be with.

“Hey, daughter of Vincent. Even though you are the daughter of Vincent and sister of Ciel, you still need to do something for this family. Your father has probably found someone you have to marry. Otherwise, you are not useful for anything else" said the friend to Astre, which gave a set in her. The words struck her. So she was right. Astre would never have the life her family had now, for she would have to give birth to children with someone she might not even like.

Quickly, she let go of her curtain and began to run the way she and her brother had come from. He was right. Life was no play and she had a role just like her own brother. But there was something in her that told her that she could not decide which man she had to marry either.

While she was thinking about all the thoughts running through her little brain, she had not noticed at all that she was just about to go into one.

"Wah!" she exclaimed. Quickly, she wiped the tears from her cheek away and apologized very quickly for having walked into the person in front of her.

"Well, who do we have here? Could it be the one and only daughter of Vincent Phantomhive? Our little blue dove alone” there was a hoarse voice saying. Astre opened her eyes and saw the most frightening face she had seen in a long time.

In front stood a man at her father's height. He had long silver-gray hair, which fell down over his shoulders and behind his back. His forehead hair was bristly so one could not see his eyes. On his head, he wore a high top hat with a fabric that fell from the top off and all the way down to his feet. His clothing was a black robe and a gray scarf fastened across his chest. Around his neck, he wore a long pearl necklace that had been twisted twice around his neck. Around the hip, he wore something resembling medallions, but Astre was not quite sure of that part.

"Hmmm, your hair grows fine and slowly out of your head. You'll probably become a beautiful girl at some point” he said, brushing his fingers through Astre's hair. Astre noticed that he had long black nails with an emerald ring on his index finger.

"But it doesn’t matter. You are a Phantomhive and you will probably become something big no matter what”. He turned around and looked into Astre's eyes. Astre noticed the scars he had over his face and the earrings he wore on his ear. Slowly and curiously, she moved her fingers toward his face. The man in front of her seemed confused until he understood and allowed her to try to touch his face, but when Astre's fingers were almost at his nose, her brother suddenly exclaimed something.

"This is where you hide," he said, walking to Astre. Quickly, he grabbed her by the hand while he seemed to pout over something.

"Do not go without me, geez…" he said as he pouted. Astre was just about to say something against it, that it was not because she wanted to leave him, but she did not get the chance when a man shouted hello to them. They turned all three of them around and saw a man with a camera come walking down to them. Astre hid a little behind her brother while the man came walking towards them.

"Ahh Mr. Newspaper reporter, are you still visiting here? You seem quite happy,” said the man with the funny hat. The man with the camera seemed, just like him with the funny one had said, happy.

"Yes, the news I wrote earlier sold so well that I could afford to buy this one, but it needs to be tested. Hmmm… ” said the man with the camera and looked around to find something he could take a picture of. Ciel seemed almost interested. After a while with the man with the funny hat standing and brushing Astre's hair with his fingers and Ciel standing and looking at the man with the camera, his face finally became light.

"You can take a picture of us," Ciel said. It gave a set in Astre. She did not know if she wanted to take a picture with the future lord of Phantomhive. The journalist seemed to radiate almost as much as Ciel did. Astre protested a bit against it, but when she saw her brother almost shining with joy she could not say no, could she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo... I tried this thing where you draw some of the scenes from the chapter. I borrowed some of the scenes from the manga for inspiration so if it looks just like the manga it wasn't because I stole it. Anyway, I hope you like the rest of the story and I will try to draw more scenes. Byee :D


	3. The problems sometimes get in the way

The days were usually long for Astre, but when she had become too ill to do anything, she was locked inside her room, where she could sit and read fairy tales written by famous writers.

There were times when she got sick during the day or just at the last minute of something her family had planned.

____________  
Astre sat on the floor inside Ciel and her room and read. She had been reported sick by her mother and father again.

Three coughs came out of her mouth as she tried to keep her attention on the words. Outside, the weather had chosen that it should be the sun all day, but since Elizabeth had not been visiting, Ciel, fortunately for Astre, had chosen to be with her all day until their father had shouted at him because there was food he should  
fetch to Astre.

"Sorry for the wait! Dinner is ready,” said Ciel's voice. Astre tilted her head up as she watched her brother come in with a tray.  
The tray had two plates filled with rice and a few mushrooms and other spices on it. Two cups of cheese and other accessories that they could eat if they did not want what was on the plate. Finally, there were two glasses that Astre's father and mother used to drink alcohol. It looked like a kind of dessert.

"How come you are coming up with it, Ciel?" asked Astre as Ciel came walking up to her and put the tray down in front of them.

"Because I helped cook with Dad and Diedrich," he said, beginning to share the plate and cutlery between the two twins. Astre admired the food that Ciel had helped to make and was glad that her brother could do so much.

"Please eat a lot so you can feel much better, okay?" said Ciel, smiling. Astre nodded and started eating the food her brother had helped make. There was something about having her brother with her that made her warm, not only did the food make her pleasantly warm, but that Ciel still cared about her was something she was happy about.

After eating the lovely food, Ciel quickly got up on her feet and turned to her with a big smile.

"What are we going to play, chess maybe?" he asked her. Astre could see in him that he was bored and would rather be outside than sit inside all day.

“Ciel… you do not have to be inside with me if you would rather go outside and play. So you don’t need to worry about me,” said Astre as she placed the plates, cups, and glasses on the tray that Ciel had brought in.  
After saying that, Astre had not noticed the expression on her brother's frightened face.

"How silly you are. You and Dad are the only ones who can beat me in chess. The others are terrible,” he said with his index finger on Astre's nose.

"Besides, I'm with you because I want to. Playing with you is the best even if you are a girl. Tomorrow we will probably have fun on the boat ” promised Ciel with a smile over his face. Astre nodded and believed him.  
____________ 

The boat trip was not going to happen for Astre anyway. As she, Ciel, mom, and dad were on their way out the door, she suddenly started coughing.

She had suddenly started coughing, but she did not feel particularly warm as she used to do when she had a seizure.

Vincent, Rachel, and Ciel had all turned around and looked at her with surprising facial expressions. Her mother had gone to Astre to lay her hand on Astre's forehead.

"Your fever is not that high, but your cough is really dry. It looks like we'll have to cancel the boat trip. We can leave at another time,” Rachel said, holding her hand on her daughter's forehead. A lump had passed through Astre's stomach when Astre's mother had told them to cancel.

Just because she could not go did not mean that the others could not go.

Astre looked at the floor as she protested.

"I will probably get better. The rest of you should leave,” she said in a sad tone. Astre wanted to come along, but she couldn't.

Astre lightened her gaze and saw her parents and brother standing with surprising facial expressions.

"You finally feeling a little better mother. I do not want to be the blame for you not leaving,” said Astre with a smile, even though it was a sad smile. Rachel protested briefly, but she was quickly interrupted by her daughter.

"Besides, I have Mr. Tanaka here with me, so I'll probably manage," she said quickly, smiling at the others, "I promise I will be a good girl and wait here." She was shaking all over her body as she tried to fight back her tears that were coming down her cheeks. She would not ruin this trip for them.

"So… please… just leave" Astre concluded as she narrowed her eyes. She would not look at her mother who had put her hand on her cheek or her father who held his hand around her brother.

"Okay…" she could hear her brother say in a sad tone. Astre lightened her gaze and saw her brother's facial expression change from sad to happy for a second.

"Then we will probably make sure to give you a lot of gifts from the trip. We'll be back with lots of flowers and mountains of beautiful rocks, okay? ” said Ciel optimistically, while holding his sister's hands. He wanted to make sure she got the best out of their trip.

"Okay," said Astre with a smile and hugged his brother. Rachel hugged her daughter into a tight hug as she whispered words that they should probably keep their word for what Ciel had promised. Vincent lifted his daughter up in his arms as he hugged her.

"Tanaka, please take care of her," he ordered. Vincent smiled at Astre, who smiled again. Slowly he put his daughter down on the floor and kissed her on the forehead before going to take his wife by the hand.

"We'll be home soon," he had said. After they left, tears had begun to fall from her cheeks and Tanaka had quickly taken her hands and told her he was proud of what she had done.

He said that her good kind heart should probably get her ways in life and that she had to choose whatever she wanted for the afternoon tea. It had made her smile. The rest of the day they had been sitting and playing chess.

When the day was over and Astre was sitting with her book between her hands, her brother burst into the reading room with a handful of bouquets of flowers. Behind him stood her mother and father with a bouquet as large as the one Ciel had in his hand.

"We are at home! See we brought so many flowers” said Ciel and ran towards her but tripped over his own feet so the flowers were thrown towards Astre as if it were flowers falling from the sky instead of rain.

Astre's eyes had lit up like that, so she had quickly jumped down from the chair and ran over and grabbed her brother's hand to help him stand. They laughed together and collected the flowers they had picked for her.


	4. What wrong with the black dove?

Like every other day when the Midfords family was visiting, Ciel was trained in fencing. Astre sat next to Elizabeth in her beautiful pink dress. There was something that Astre envied about Elizabeth. Her light curls which were always put in two ponytails and her beautiful eyes which seemed to always have life in them. Astre? Her hair was straight and sat in one ponytail, while her eyes had long since she was born died off by always being inside.

“Are you completely healthy now? Ciel told me you could not come on the boat trip” Elizabeth asked her. Astre completely fell out of her trance, but it took some time before she answered her.

"Yep, I'm better off today than I was yesterday. I have no cough today or anything else…” she said. Elizabeth seemed interested in her conversation with Astre until they both heard Ciel shout. The girls at the same time turned their heads towards Ciel, who was sitting on the floor and received a round of scolding from the twins' aunt.

Elizabeth quickly threw herself out of her chair as she ran towards Ciel. Astre sat quietly and watched her brother smile a big smile at Elizabeth while joking that he should change underpants.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but it's time for Ciel's teaching with Professor Hugues. Astre your mother is waiting in her sewing room,” said Tanaka, which meant it was time for the two twins to teach. Astre quickly got up from her chair and walked past her brother and Elizabeth and out the door.

As she walked down the hall, she could still hear the two talking and laughing together. As she stopped in front of the sewing room she could see her mother sitting and humming a tune while embroidering something resembling a flower of red and blue mixed in.

"Hello mom," Astre said as she walked quietly into the sewing room. Rachel stopped humming and turned around to look at her daughter. Quickly she put her sewing gear away from her and got up from her chair.

“Hi, Astre. Are you ready to show me what you learned last time?” she asked her daughter. Astre nodded and went out into the middle of the sewing room, where there was nothing in the way.

Ciel and Vincent were the men in their home and therefore had to be taught everything that had to do with money and other important things that women could not do while the girls learned to dance, sew, sing and look pretty outside.

Astre stood on her feet with a balance on both of them. When Rachel had put on music, Astre started dancing. At first, she curtsied to her mother. Then she went three steps forward and curtsied while she had lifted up a little in a dress so she would not walk in it. Then she turned around and made chasse to the right and then chasse to the left and nodded at the end. The rest of the day, Astre danced, sewed, and sang for her mother. As the day was coming to an end and Ciel and Vincent would soon be returning from their journey around the Phantomhive domain. Rachel got up from her chair while Astre did the same. Rachel then stroked her daughter's head as she smiled at her.

“You have a wonderful voice, my girl. What would you say to sing for your brother and your birthday? ” asked Rachel. Astre seemed almost surprised by what her mother asked her.

"Really, do you want to hear me sing?" asked Astre, now full of new energy. Her mother laughed and swung her around in her arms. While laughing, they could hear Sebastien standing and barking.

"Seems like they are home," Rachel said, taking Astre's hand. Together they went towards the males of their family.  
____________ 

Ever since Ciel and Vincent had come home, there was something about Ciel that Astre had thought wasn’t normal. She had tried to talk to him, but he had stayed completely away from her. At first, she thought it was because she was a girl, but it could not be it, right? But before she could talk to him, the day was over.  
The night was cold and humid. It was as if she was missing something about Ciel that was not quite present, but before she could do anything about it, she fell asleep.  
Tomorrow she would comfort Ciel if anything went wrong.  
____________ 

The next morning, Astre had put on her dress and was now standing over her brother, while Tanaka and two maids were trying to get her brother out of bed. What was wrong with Ciel?

"Dear Mr. Ciel, won’t you get out of bed. Your tutor is here soon,” Tanaka asked. Astre looked worriedly at her brother. What had happened on the journey with their father?

"I WILL NOT! I DON'T WANT TO STUDY ANYMORE! JUST GO OUT EVERYONE!!” shouted Ciel. Now Astre was really worried.

"Well, it's definitely not you to throw such a tantrum," said Tanaka, sounding as surprised as Astre felled.

"I agree. What's wrong Ciel?” asked Astre, who had now sat down on the bed next to her brother. However, what could have happened since Ciel behaved like this?

“YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND IT ANYWAY! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE” Ciel shouted once more. Astre and Tanaka cast a confused look at each other as if thinking of the same thing. What had happened?

Suddenly they heard the door open and inside the door came Vincent and Rachel. Astre's mother looked worried, but there was something about her father's facial expression that made Astre wonder. Why did her father have such a serious facial expression in the morning?

"My Goodness. What is this fuss early in the morning? ” Rachel asked worriedly. Tanaka and Astre looked at each other quickly, after which Astre replied;  
Farther, mother. Ciel refuses to get out of bed. He says he does not want to study anymore," said Astre, and you could hear that she was worried.

“Oh my! Wonder what's wrong? ” said Rachel anxiously and went to the side of her son's bed. The opposite end of Astre. Although the rest of the people inside the room looked at Rachel and Ciel, Astre's eyes were on her father. Vincent had not said a single word and he looked like someone who had been to blame for something. Had he said something to Ciel?

"Tanaka, will you please lead Astre to read in the living room. Vincent and I will probably get Ciel up,” Rachel assured. Astre cast a single glance at her brother before leaving her brother. Something was wrong about Ciel. 

Since that day, Ciel stayed away from Astre, which made her feel alone. They no longer sat at the same table when they read books. Ciel had been given a new bedroom away from Astre so they no longer shared a room. She also no longer heard stories of what had happened throughout the day. They no longer shared  
Halloween candy. At Easter, Ciel would no longer win eggs for Astre and when they would go out every autumn looking for chestnuts and leaves, Astre was the only one going out. 

Didn’t Ciel want to be her friend anymore?


	5. The birthday the blue dove never forgot

The day had finally come. The day the twins would turn 10 years old. Astre had jumped out of her bed and found the most beautiful red dress she had in her closet. Then she had left her hair so that it did not sit in a ponytail anymore. Astre then opened her Advent calendar and saw that she had got a rabbit.

Two doors down were her brother’s bedroom. Ciel was not in a hurry to get up and put on clothes. That was before Astre stood in front of his door and knocked. There was another knock and suddenly the door was open.

“Good morning Ciel! Happy Birthday! See what I've got in the calendar today,” said Astre with an energy she had never felt before. Ciel rose wearily from his bed and put on his clothes as he looked at his sister, with something resembling sad eyes.

“Good morning sis. Happy Birthday. We are gonna get a rabbit, huh!” he said almost in a monotone. Astre looked at him strangely. What was wrong with him today?

"Are you okay, Ciel?" she asked him. He turned around quickly and sent her a big smile.

"Yes. Come on, let's go down to our parents,” he said, grabbing Astre's wrists and running towards the dining room, where their parents were waiting for them.

The dining room was filled with shining lights. The long table was covered with a long tablecloth and several bouquets of red poinsettias. At the end of the long table where their father used to sit when they had guests, stood a huge Christmas tree filled with Christmas decorations.

The two twins exclaimed with joy and surprise as they walked through the hall. They admired all the gifts that lay under the tree. Tanaka quickly managed to tell Ciel that it was only after dinner that they could open them. Ciel, like his sister, wore a red outfit, so when their mother came walking into the hall with a red dress, they only needed their father in red.

"Happy birthday my angels" she exclaimed with a big smile. Behind her stood their father, watching as he hugged. Throughout the year, Astre and Vincent had stayed away from each other, as had Astre and Ciel.

"Thank you, mother," they said at the same time. Rachel let go of Ciel, who ran to their father and whispered to her daughter.

"Are you ready to sing tonight?" she asked Astre. She nodded in joy and accompanied her mother to her father and brother.

"Today you do not have to study. Go out and play,” said their mother. Both Astre and Ciel seemed happy with that announcement. Quickly found Ciel, Elizabeth. They both hurried to run out the door to the garden so Astre stood alone again.

“Lord Phantomhive. There is a man outside who wants to talk to them and their wife,” said Tanaka. There was something in his eyes that looked like fear. Rachel and Vincent looked worriedly at each other and then nodded. Astre watched her parents walk out of the hall with their butler. Around her, people announced birthday greetings and she smiled at them all.

"This is the last chance to give us their children, Lord, and Lady Phantomhive” was someone outside who said. It almost sounded like someone was threatening. Astre turned around and looked out towards the balcony. Who was outside right now? She walked with slow steps out into the cold weather. The snow fell around her and darkness had settled around her even though it was only 4 in the afternoon.

"Listen, we do not know what you want with our children, but we won’t give them away," said a male voice. Farther! thought Astre. She ran quickly to the end of the balcony. She could not see much since she was so small, but when she looked over the railing, she could just spot two figures with something resembling pistols aimed at her mother and father. Vincent stood in front of Rachel with his arms in front of her as if trying to protect her from the bullets from the gun.  
Suddenly there was a shot.

"FARTHER!" shouted Astre, throwing herself as high as she could over the railing. There was silence for a while before one of the men finally said something.  
“The job is done, Mr. Sebastian". Astre looked over the railing, but she could see anything but smoke from the ground. She stood alone in the dark with smoke around her, but when she felt something move next to her, she quickly turned around.  
In front of her stood a tall man, looking down at her with red eyes. His hair was long and fell over his eyes in tufts of hair. The clothes were a black suit that Tanaka walked around in.

"Well, if it's not Astre Phantomhive. The lonely blue dove,” said the man. Astre did not move out of her standing place. Her eyes were caught in the red eyes as if she were falling farther and farther towards him.

"W-Who are you?" she asked in a stammering voice towards the man. The man laughed and then bowed. Astre stood and debated whether she too should either curtsy or bow, but she remained standing. There was something about this man she could not quite point to.

“Sebastian Michaelis. Thank you very much for rescuing Miss Astre Phantomhive,” said Tanaka, who limped in from the balcony door. Sebastian bowed to him but did not leave himself away from Astre.

“A girl on the balcony alone. Not a great place to be. My friends and I came here in time for our jobs,” he said, standing in front of Tanaka as if to say he should try to challenge him. Tanaka nodded and turned his arm towards Astre.

"From now on, Ciel Phantomhive will be my responsibility. You'll be the butler for Miss Astre here. I expect your friends to get started quickly with their new roles,” said Tanaka. He quickly turned around to Astre and bowed, after which he entered the building again. Astre shook all over her body.

Too much had happened for her to process it in her brain. Someone had attacked her home. Threatened her mother and father. This man in front of her had saved her father and mother. 

The cold from the snow and the darkness around her had begun to penetrate her, but she was frozen on the spot.

"I want you to swear something to me," Astre said in a confident voice that surprised her. Sebastian turned to her in surprise. Even though this little girl froze, she was still brave.

"1 - You must swear to me you will never, under any circumstances, lie to me. 2 - You must obey any order I give no matter how insane they are. 3 - You must protect me and never betray me as long as you work for me," said Astre in a stone-cold voice. Sebastian looked at his new master with an impressive facial expression. A 10-year-old girl had her claws on the strongest soldier in the world.

"Yes my master," he said, now bowing down on his knees. Astre smiled to herself. She was no longer alone and she had an iron grip on this man. What  
could hit her now?

____________

Finally, it was the evening when the two twins could sit opposite their family and have fun. It was all forgotten with the attack, which Astre was happy about, but she could see that Ciel had no idea what had happened.  
Rachel sat and talking to Vincent as she cast confused glances at Sebastian, but he did not appear to have noticed it. He stood behind Astre's chair like a dog waiting for its owner to give it an order.

After a long time of talking, eating, and opening presents, Rachel slammed her glass three times.

“My dear angels. Happy birthday. It's today you will be 10 years old, but Ciel the gifts you have received today are not the last, because you see, while you were out with your father over the years, Astre and I have practiced to this day. Astre come up here and Grell you can play the piano. Sebastian, if you want to take the violin,” Rachel said as she stood in front of the entire congregation. Grell, Aunt Anne's butler, nodded wildly and sat down at the piano and put his fingers on the keys. Sebastian bowed to Rachel and went to pick up a violin, after which he began playing the same tune that Grell played.

Astre stood in front of the collection, looking at her brother, who was smiling with curiosity and surprise, at her father, who had a receptive facial expression, and her mother, who was smiling with pride. But when she opened her mouth, no sound came out. Around her stood her family, expecting her to start on her song, but Astre began to panic more and more.

Her mother stood and with a proud facial expression. Her father looked patient as he wrapped his arm around Rachel's waist. Ciel stood and with a questioning facial expression while Elizabeth whispered something in his ear. Did he smile or was it something she had imagined?  
Suddenly her throat did not begin to draw in air and she coughed terribly. Rachel's smile faded immediately and Vincent let go of Rachel. Ciel and Elizabeth looked at each other, after which they looked at Astre. The rest of the family and servants began to panic and Sebastian had quickly put down his violin to go to Astre, but she stopped him.

"Leave me alone. It's an order,” she said, after which, with the strength she had left, she ran back to her room. Sebastian and the others stood back in the hall, looking at each other in shock. Had Astre, their 10-year-old daughter, placed an order. Sebastian smiled and ran a hand through his hair.

"She's not nearly as weak as she pretends to be, your daughter," he told Rachel and Vincent. They looked questioningly at him as Sebastian turned in the direction that Astre had run. She wanted to be alone, fair enough, but then again. The third rule she had made was that Sebastian should protect her no matter what. So he had intended to do so.

"Wait, Sebastian!" shouted Ciel behind him. Sebastian, standing in front of Astre's room, turned around and looked at him. Ciel had run after Sebastian, but now that he was standing in front of him and wanted to ask him something, he had forgotten what he wanted to ask.

"Yes, Lord?". Sebastian bowed half. Not quite as he had done at Astre.

"My sister likes to have someone who strokes her head when she coughs. I know she's asked you to stay away from her, but I thought you could let me in,” Ciel said worriedly. He had been an asshole to his own sister after receiving sad news from his father.  
Sebastian stepped aside in front of Astre's door and opened it.

"Make sure she's better when you walk out the door," he said. Ciel nodded and walked in the door, after which it was closed behind him.

____________

Inside the darkroom, Astre sat frantically trying to breathe. She had panicked over something she and her mother had been practicing for a long time. The song she wanted to sing was meant for her brother as if to say she loved him and wanted to know why he had stayed away from her.  
Astre raised her hair as she slowly breathed in and out. She had spat the mucus out of her mouth and her windows stood wide open.

"Astre?" was there someone who asked. She looked up briefly and saw her brother standing by the door. Both twins were shaking, but they both knew why Astre had opened the windows. Ciel walked slowly towards Astre with his arms up as if to say he would not harm her. As he stood next to her, he jumped up on her bed and put his arms around her.

"C-Ciel?" Astre asked anxiously, looking up at the brother who had stayed away from her for several months. Why would he be with her now? Ciel hushed her, but she shook her head.

“Y-you left me. You would rather have your own space. Be with Elizabeth. You were not even with me when we should have been out in the fall. What have I done?" she asked him. Ciel hushed her again, pretending not to hear anything.

"It will be okay. I'm here now. I know I was an idiot to you before, but I'm here right now,” he said, as he silenced her. Astre was about to go out of her good skin. He could not just stay away from Elizabeth, but when she needed to be comforted he was present right away.

"Go…" she whispered. Ciel had not heard her and had, therefore, kept hugging her.

"GO!" she shouted at him. He looked at her in surprise.

"I am your brother. You need me,” he said as he quietly stroked her head, but she knocked it away.

"I do not need you today. Sebastian, come in and comfort me. It's an order,” Astre said to Sebastian behind the door, but her gaze was set on Ciel. Ciel had quickly jumped out of her bed and walked out the door, but before going out, he turned around and saw his sister sitting by her butler, stroking her over her head.

"Sorry, but you would hate me more in 2 years. Happy birthday, sis” he whispered and closed the door behind him.


	6. She's not lonely anymore

2 months after the twins' birthday, Astre had started hanging out more and more in her room, but she had Sebastian with her. He had played chess with her. Fetched food, tea, and other necessary things she needed, for her. Astre also had become friends with Sebastian friends Mey-Rin, Baldroy, and Finnian.

Finnian had not had a name until Astre had met him. He had been called number 12, but when Astre had said that he reminded her of the book Phoenician Cycle which she had read when she was little. Astre had seen how fast he could run, how hard he could hit, and how strong he was when he had to lift something. Astre had once stood looking out the window while she saw the Finnian throwing weeds far away from the garden against the compost pile far away from the manor. When she had given him the name Finnian, he became as loyal as Sebastian was and made sure to greet her and give her flowers from the garden when he came past her room or the sewing room.

Baldroy was a little more fun than the others. He was sent down to the kitchen by her father, although he could not cook any food, he was wildly good at peeling potatoes. One day when Astre had had enough of being in her room, Astre had gone down to the kitchen to get a bite to eat without Sebastian having spotted her. Baldroy stood down in the kitchen polishing his arms while humming a tune. When Astre was standing in the middle of the kitchen about to take an apple, Baldroy had walked over to her, while he had smiled down at her to ask what she was doing down here with him. She had told him she was hungry. Slowly, they began to build a relationship with each other. He had, like Finnian, become more loyal to Astre and always threw an apple beside her when she sat alone in the reading room.

Out of all Sebastian's friends, Astre looked up to Mey-Rin the most. Astre had looked up several times where exactly Mey-Rin could hit something from a certain distance. But sometimes she can be very clumsy so Astre had sometimes helped her carry things from one place to another. Mey-Rin had once told Astre that she could not see through her glasses as she could when she got them, but she refused to replace them as they were given by Sebastian, but one day Astre had bothered her father to buy a new pair of glasses for Mey-Rin, Astre had personally gone with Mey-Rin into town and bought them for her. From that day on, their relationship was as strong as the two others' relationship with her. Mey-Rin would sometimes pretend she had fallen over her feet so she needed Astre's help to carry something or clean something up.

The three friends were the ones who made the days go faster for Astre instead of sitting in different rooms and reading, sewing, or dancing.  
____________ When Astre was 11 years old there was a day when Astre sat inside the reading room and munched on the apple that Baldroy had given her, her mother came walking in to her. She looked worried and seemed almost as if something terrible had just happened.

"Mom, are you okay?" asked Astre as she closed her book she was working on. Rachel turned around and looked at her daughter.

"Your father and brother have been captured by the Indian immigrants because they thought they were to blame for something. Do you want to go and check it out? I know that it will be difficult with your illness, but I must not leave the manor or people think there is something wrong" said Rachel. Astre ran to the door and smiled.

"I'll take them home," she promised her mother and ran to her room, after which she found Sebastian. Sebastian just bowed as he had no choice. Together they took a wagon to the alley.  
____________ While sitting in the carriage, the snow fell outside. Astre had turned 11 years old 1 month ago and it had passed away that Astre had been sitting in her room while she kept it with her newfound friends. Ciel had been with the Midford family.

As Sebastian and Astre sat facing each other as they swung, Sebastian laid an envelope down next to her. Astre looked questioningly at Sebastian.

"It's an envelope of the murders that have been going on in London lately," he said, his cold red eyes stared at her. Astre looked at him in horror. Killing? She had not heard of any killings that had taken place in London. More secrets her father had kept from her. She slowly pulled her fingers out of the gloves, after which she took the documents out of the envelope.

"Kill only those who have just returned from India to England. Isn't that a little too much? ” asked Astre, throwing a glance over at Sebastian. He shrugged. Astre sighed and glanced down at the documents again.

"So the criminals are called 'The Chosen Children of sloth and depreavity’, I completely agree that England would be better off without India's wealthy upstarts,” said Astre with a smile as she studied the drawings and pictures of the victims. Sebastian had for a brief second had a facial expression that showed he was amazed at how Astre could say such a thing.

"Most of the victims are the high-class men who have just arrived from India. Not middle or low class" commented Sebastian. Astre nodded understandably. If anyone was to be killed in the way the victims had been killed, only they deserved it. In Astre's opinion, she thought that India was not in the interest of Englishmen in India. Yes, India had shamefully different flavors and spices to make it more exciting, but what else was so interesting about India?

“High-class men. How worthless. And what is this mark? It looks like a tongue sticking out,” said Astre, as she let her tongue stick out after she had commanded the mark. Sebastian choked on a laugh as not to die laughing at how stupid Astre had looked.

Astre read on where she could see that the detective had said that the killer was making fun of the English men and the queen. He clearly believed that they could only be the barbaric Indians. Astre sighed at the idea. Although she was not much for the English taking advantage of the Indian goods in a bad way.

After a long time driving through the streets of London, the carriage stopped. Sebastian jumped out first and Astre took his hand. Around her, were there dilapidated townhouses on both sides of the street. Flies flew around her and a sweet foul-smelling odor cut into her nostrils. Around the streets, were there people in tattered fabrics and people stood up from each other or sat up against the walls of the houses. While Astre and Sebastian were walking down the street, one of the people from the street came walking towards them. Astre naturally moved away from him to let him pass, but he went straight into her.

"Ouch!! It hurts!! My ribs broke !!” he screamed loudly as if to make the other people around them look up from their misery. Astre looked at him in horror as if to process what had just happened. He had encountered her and not the other way around. Next to her, could she hear Sebastian breathing out as if he was giving up on something.

People in the streets began to rise from the ground or walk from their place as they had stood. They were quickly approached by the man who had accused Astre of hurting him. The people asked if he was okay, what had happened and if he needed help. In less than 5 seconds, the entire crowd stood on the street around Astre and Sebastian. They stood and gave eerie glances to them while some whispered to each other or just laughed to themselves.

The man who had accused Astre of breaking his ribs grabbed the collar of Astre's cloak,

“To show up in a place like this. You only ask about it !! It's something of a nice dress you're wearing. Can you be a Nobel ?! ” asked the man. Astre was about to throw up over the foul-smelling breath she got in her head. She just had to find her father and brother now. Astre would have previously hidden behind the first person she trusted, but now she was standing in front of a man who would threaten her, and she would not hide this time.

“Pay me consolation money !! Take everything you have off and give it to me !!” the man demanded of her. Astre glanced at Sebastian who was just standing there looking like someone who was bored.

"Get rid of them, right now Sebastian," Astre commanded in a monotone. Sebastian bowed and turned to the men standing around them. The men around them screamed and shouted that the English were the worst people who had lived long and they were the reason they lived in misfortune and displeasure. Astre did not comment and just stood there waiting for the first one to attack her. But while shouting at them, Astre could hear someone in the background asking about something. He said afterward that he would reward the person who gave him the answer he was looking for.

The whole population around Astre and Sebastian turned around and looked at the two gentlemen facing the population. One looked like an Indian who was the age of most teenagers. He had dark skin and long, wavy plum-purple hair worn loose around his shoulders. Some of it was stuck in a ponytail with a gold clip. He had a large scarf tied around his hips and a white shawl held in place by a ruby stone set in a gold plate. He also wore large gold earrings, a decorative gold tie, and white slippers.

The other was a tall Indian man with dark, olive skin, slate-gray eyes, and short, straw white hair. Two long locks of his hair are adorned with pearls. The man wore a plain turban and a green sherwani with a yellow and white sash-over churidar.  
Astre looked with wide eyes at the short man with the plum-purple-colored hair. He seemed… handsome. In a way.

"We are looking for an Indian who looks like this person," he said and showed a drawing up in front of the others. Astre stood and studied the drawing, but could not see who it was supposed to look like. The drawing looked like something a 4-year-old had drawn. The man in front of Astre had turned around and was now screaming at the man with the plum-purple hair. Almost threatened him. Quickly, the plum-purple hair man stood with his knife up against the man's throat.

"You must not call me such cruel thing" he replied in a voice that was not completely dry but was on its way to it. The man who had threatened the plum-purple haired man shook as he held his arms up in front of him. The plum-purple-haired man leaned slightly to the side and made eye contact with Astre. They stood staring into each other's eyes. His gold eyes were locked in her peacock-blue eyes. His gold eyes were full of curiosity and kindness but were quickly replaced with hatred.

"It's a butler. You're a British nobleman, aren’t you?” asked the man of Indian plum-purple hair. Astre snorted and shook her head. Then she lifted her dress a little and curtsied.

"I am a noblewoman, thank you very much," she said angrily, after which she crossed her arms.

"Then I must stand on the same side as my people Agni… defeat them" said the plum-purple haired man, while his eyes were locked in a glance with Astre. Astre looked at the man with the white turban who was apparently named Agni. He began to take the bandage around his right hand as he said loudly to the plum-purple haired man;

"I will do as you command my lord. I will use this power I possess from the gods to fulfill my lord's desire that I should not leave our enemies on their own feet,” he said.

Agni quickly turned towards Astre and ran in such force that Astre could not see it. But when Agni swung in to strike at Astre's head, Sebastian stopped the movement with his arm. Astre was held up in the other arm by Sebastian. He used his left arm to stop all Agni's attacks. One of the other men who had previously stood around them had now run in to attack Sebastian, but Sebastian managed to dodge so Agni came to beat the man. Agni kept attacking Sebastian on his arm and not the rest of his body while Sebastian deflected his attack. After the 27th time where Agni had attacked the arm, he backed a little backward while breathing deeply.

“I have hit your butler at his pressure point up to several times. He should be paralyzed, how can he not be?” Agni asked breathlessly. Astre looked up in surprise at Sebastian, who was still holding her under his arm and was about to open her mouth to ask him when one of the poor Indian men attacked Sebastian. Sebastian grabbed the man's arm and forced him to sit down.

"Listen up. We had hardly set foot on this street before I was attacked by one of your men. I even let him walk past me so we wouldn’t end up in something like this. Is it really how you treat British men and women who come in peace? And Sebastian, put me down,” said Astre, after which she was put down. Agni's master looked at her in surprise, after which he looked at his men.

"And besides, some here have captured my family members, which I will be happy to get back," said Astre now in an even more annoyed and angry tone.

"Wait so you tell me that my brothers and men have attacked you for nothing and taken your family members from you? Agni, it is not the British in this context who have done anything wrong, but our dear brothers who have attacked a child of the British people. Agni if you would be so kind,” said Agni's master. Agni bowed to his master, after which he attacked in the same way as he had done at Sebastian. After a short time, all the men who had attacked or threatened Astre lay in a heap of people.

"It's done Lord Soma," said Agni, after which he bowed to his master named Soma. Soma blew out of his nose and walked towards Astre as he smiled at her.

"I hope you are both unharmed. It was not intended that this should have happened ”. Soma smiled at Astre while Sebastian nodded understandably.

“Also young lady this place is not a place for nice girls like you should walk around be. It's too dirty as someone like you, ” he said, turning around to scout the streets.

"Shall we find your family members and then a family member for me?" he asked, walking down the street. Astre was speechless. She had met someone who had sided with his people until he had heard the truth. He had had the truth in his judgment before anything else. After walking for a long time, they now stood in front of a building that was almost completely destroyed.

"I think your family members are in there. Shall we go in there?” he said without really asking. Astre nodded, after which she walked in through the decaying doors. Inside the building, dust and soot flew around them. Suddenly there was an explosion of soot, which caused Astre and the others to cough violently. Sebastian had tried to reach out to Astre, but Soma had quickly taken her hand, after which they walked slowly forward.

"Ciel, dad?" said Astre questioningly quietly in the soot cloud. Around her, she heard 5 different coughs. When the cloud of smoke had finally settled, Astre could see 5 figures standing around her. Sebastian was helping Astre's brother get on his feet, while Soma and Agni were talking to Vincent about something.

"Astre!!" said Ciel, running to his sister, after which he hugged her tightly to him.

"I'm okay," said Astre in her brother's arms. That day they went home to the Phantomhive mansion where it had been made clear that Soma and Agni were to stay for the next few days until they had found the relative who had come to England.  
____________ Days passed with Soma and Agni living in the mansion with the Phantomhive family. Astre had at first tried to stay away from Soma but she had always been found by him and as the time had passed she was fine with having him near her. Either she was inside the sewing room embroidering her red flower as her mother had put her to or heard stories from the palace in India from Soma. Other times she would be in the process of dancing, but she was always get disturbed by Soma who showed her dancing steps from his country.

The days had been full of laughter on her part. Ciel's side had been stressful. Every day he sat and helped his father while he could see his sister standing and reading aloud from a book while Soma had shown the different scenes to her.

But all the laughter and joy that had been in the Phantomhive mansion had disappeared the day they had discovered that Agni was working for Mr. Harold West Job. It had hurt Soma and the only thing Astre could do for him was that she kept promising him that she would help find Mina even though Rachel had protested.  
____________ A day where they all sat inside the dining room drinking tea, or they should have done it after Agni had left them, Soma had been angry and frustrated so Astre had suggested that they could drink tea inside the living room. It had not gone as she had thought it would. Suddenly while they had been talking about Agni and why he had chosen to leave his dear master Soma, Soma had become frustrated.

“Why did he leave and leave me that way ?! Why is it that everyone around me leaves me or disappears away from me ?! Why?!" he shouted as he tossed teacups, tea bowls, tea jugs and cakes around him. Astre ducked when a cup of tea flew past her with surprised wide-open eyes. Sebastian grabbed three cups.

Later that night, while Astre was asleep, she suddenly heard Soma shouting loudly. She had quickly put on her shoes and ran down the hall to the guest room where Soma was lying. There was no one but her, who had heard shouting. Ciel no longer lived in the western part of the manor. He lived in the eastern part with their parents.

Inside the room, Astre could hear Sebastian standing and commanding and telling stories about how pathetic the way he behaved was. And how everything he had had was never something he had. It was something that was given to him.

"I would have ended that way too, just so you know, Sebastian," Astre said quietly, leaning against the doorknob. Sebastian and Soma both turned around and looked at her in surprise. They both looked questioning.

“When I was 5 I got asthma which led to me never having any friends visiting. I never got the attention of mine from my father and mother that I deserved. It was given to me when it suited them. The servants who came by were people my mother had given to me to keep me company while the others sat in the garden, but because I had my brother helping me through it, I learned to be human. Soma needs a friend who cares for him properly and someone he cares for,” said Astre and walked past Sebastian who bowed slightly to her.

"As I said before Agni left you, I will help you find Mina and I will help you find something that is yours. But now you must help me. We can be friends you and I if we work together on this issue my father and brother are still stuck in. So what do you say? ” asked Astre, holding out her hand to Soma. Sebastian stood in shock and watched, but Soma hugged Astre into him instead.

"I will help you," he promised. Astre smiled into Soma's embrace roof.  
____________ It had been 5 days since the accident with the tea set. Out of the 5 days, Astre had received knowledge from her father and brother that there would be a competition with curry where Queen Victoria would come by and evaluate the various curry dishes, after which the winner would get a royal power. With Soma's help from the various Indian gods, Astre had found out that the mark on the various notes from the victims of the murders was a sign from the god Kali.

In the 5 days, Sebastian had tried different curry dishes. Initially, he served different dishes to everyone from the Phantomhive family and Soma, but since they were not a success, he tried other methods. Astre and Ciel were sometimes down in the kitchen to see how Sebastian made all the different dishes and Soma would point out which Agni used to use.

They were ready to win the competition.


	7. The competition arrival

Finally, it was the day when the competition would take place. The Phantomhive family all walked together into the large glass palace filled with people. Inside, there were plants of various species and large animals that looked like elephants, which Astre and Ciel had read in their books. Baldroy, Mey-Rin, Finnian, and Tanaka were all brought along to experience the great competition. Astre had asked her father if they could come along, after which she came up with arguments for all three of them. Baldroy could learn a little about cooking better. Mey-Rin could take care of holding Rachel's jacket when she was warm. Finnian’s could explore new plants for their gardens and give them to the other gardeners in the mansion. Tanaka was Ciel's butler and was therefore automatically invited to join like Sebastian if it had not been for the reason they had come in the first place.

"Astre, is not it beautiful?" Ciel asked her. Astre looked at her brother, who was leaning against one of the large animals. Astre nodded and stood next to her brother. Ciel and Astre had not been together as much as they used to, so it was nice that they could be together as siblings now.

"It's really nice here. Do you think mom and dad will let us touch them?” asked Astre, pointing to some tigers. Ciel shone with curiosity and joy.

"No, but I wanted to know how soft they are," he said interestedly. Astre nodded and laughed at her brother's way of holding his hand under his chin. Between the noise and many people, Astre could hear her mother calling to her children. Astre and Ciel, therefore, hurried to them.  
Vincent was talking to a man. He had blonde hair and was licked backward by something creamy. He was wearing a brown jacket and in his hands, he had a top hat and a walking stick. When Ciel and Astre came walking towards them, the attention disappeared from Vincent and down on Vincent's children.

"Well, if it's not Ciel and Astre Phantomhive. The most beautiful children in England,” asked Lord West, bowing to Astre and Ciel. They greeted again. While Ciel was talking to Lord West, Astre could see out of the corner of her eye that Soma was spying on the man. Astre felt a hatred flow through her as she watched Lord West. West stood and boasted that he should probably win the price and make sure to get the royal warrant. Vincent stood still and nodded while Rachel held her husband's hand, but Astre and Ciel had seen through them long ago. They both felt hatred for Lord West and his boasting.

"Sebastian. I command you not to lose. Is that understood?" commanded Astre to Sebastian. He nodded and then bowed to her.

"Yes, my lady," he said and walked towards the participants' room. Vincent bent down to his daughter and asked;

"Are you sure he will win?" Astre nodded. She had commanded it, so that was how it was. It was part of their deal.  
____________ 

It had not been long after Sebastian had left Astre to enter the competition before a man stood and presented the day's great event. He stood waving a parchment which told that only those families who had signed up with a curry expert could win the prize.  
After the presentation, the man held out his arm and 3 people got up from their chairs.

"May I present the three judges who will assess the curry dishes. The first is the very chef of Her Majesty Queen Victoria's Palace, who will not underestimate any taste, Chef Higharm. The other judge today is a man who counts, writes, and keeps an eye on the taxes we humans have to pay in England and in India - ", Astre rolled her eyes as she looked up at the fat man with the very straight mustache. His glasses were small and round in relation to his eyes. The chef, on the other hand, was tall and looked like a white monkey with a chef’s hat, which made Astre laugh. Ciel looked at her questioningly, but she waved it away.

"The last judge is the man himself who has a great love for art and food, Vicomte of Druitt". A tall man with long blond hair and purple eyes looked with a gaze full of something that looked like a mixture of flirtatious and cheerful. Behind Astre she could feel her father stiffen. She turned halfway around and whispered to her father;

"Do you know who he is?" Her father hummed in response.

"He was a suspect in the episode of Jack the Ripper that you may remember, but he had nothing to do with it. However, when we asked him if he knew anything, he asked if I knew any beautiful women in my life. I answered your mother and you of course, and I have the feeling that he has been looking for you ever since I showed a picture of you and your brother,” Vincent said in a voice of disgust and insecurity. Astre was dumbfounded and turned her gaze to Vicomte of Druitt again. He was at least 20-30 years old, which gave her a bit of nausea overthinking it that way.

Astre quickly threw that thought away and laid her attention on the participants, who now stood in a row. Astre could count to 6 people. 1 woman and 5 men. When they had to present the different participants, the man who presented them was surprised that Sebastian was a butler, which made a smile appear on Astre’s lips. There were whispers around them, but they were quickly interrupted by the start of the competition.

While the 6 participants started making their own different curry dishes, the Phantomhive family and their followers had sat down at one of the vacant tables that stood around in the large greenhouse. While Ciel sat and talked with Elizabeth, who had come with her family shortly after the presentation, Astre sat and listened to stories from Soma, who was in the process of telling them to his audience, which consisted of Mei-Rin, Bard, and Finnian.

"Good afternoon Phantomhive and the Midford family," said a man whose voice was sugar sweet. Both families and their followers looked up at him. In front of them stood the Viscount of Druitt. He had a glass of wine in his right hand, while in the left he had a red rose. He smelled it a few times just to emphasize that it was a real flower. Vincent got up from his chair and went to the Viscount.

Good afternoon Viscount Aleister Champer. What is the reason for this honor that you come down to us?” asked Vincent, in the most innocent voice Astre had ever heard before. Aleister smiled at him and looked at the different people around him until his eyes landed on her. He sent a quick smile to Vincent, after which he bowed to Astre.

"In my eyes, I see people like birds and other beautiful creatures, and I must say that you are the most beautiful blue dove among them all," he said, kissing Astre's hand. Vincent rocked uncomfortably while Ciel had almost dropped his glass of tea into his lap. Astre and Rachel both had facial expressions that showed that this was not pleasant.

"It was a lovely compliment to hear, Viscount, and though they are just as lovely, I really can not see what I should do with such a compliment, as this dove is nothing but locked inside her birdcage," said Astre with a teasing vote. Aleister bowed to her and blinked. He then whispered something in Vincent's ear, after which he bowed to say goodbye and proceeded with the newly filled glass of wine. Astre breathed hard out of her lungs and glanced at her father.

"What was he whispering about?" she asked him, but he threw with his hand. Which meant she should not interfere.  
____________ 

Finally, the time had passed for the competition and the two noble families rose from their tables to go to the stage where they were to see who had won the competition.

One of the participants had done a good job with his meat, but the taste had been too dull and he had used curry powder instead of finding his own curry. It had made the people around Astre whisper. Rachel herself had been one of those who had shaken her head, as opposed to Astre who felt sorry for the man. Could it not have cost his job to make such a mistake?

When it was Agni's turn to present his baked goods, Astre could feel Soma grabbing her arm. Soma whispered Agni's name while Agni walked with a stiff back towards the judges. Astre quickly grabbed Soma's hand and silenced him as she squeezed his hand. Agni’s baked goods consisted of a blue lobster with 7 different types of bowls filled with curry. It had quickly gotten the three judges out of their chairs.

"The meat is perfectly chewy and its taste fills the whole mouth". There was a hard squeeze from Soma, which made Astre make a surprised sound.

” Ohh… Ahhh… Like the unexpected meeting with each other in the great hall that let its light shine on your 7 beautiful stones around you. Every stone for your jewelry. Ohh the beautiful diamond ring around your beautiful feather fingers like a white dove” the Viscount said with his arms spread around him as if he was trying to grab something in the air that was not even there.

“A love I never got back. A simple but fantastic curry,” said the Viscount to Agni. Astre and Soma looked at each other in fear, but out of pride. They were proud of what Agni had gotten out of the three judges, but did that mean Sebastian did not win? No, he had been commanded by Astre that he should win no matter what. And he could not defy a command.

When Sebastian went up with his dish, were there laying a simple bun of… nothing. There was nothing but the bun. Astre let go of Soma and crossed her arms. What game did Sebastian play? Which was the same as the judges thought. They shouted that such a thing could not be shown to people like them, but Sebastian just jerked a pan filled with some liquid, which bubbled and threw the ball in. For a short while, everyone could only hear the south of the oil frying bowl. After a short while, Sebastian picked up the ball and placed it on the plate. The boss from the palace wanted to know where the curry was, but after Sebastian had cut the ball over, all the liquid came quietly out of the ball.

Astre was quickly surprised and glanced at her friends, who smiled big at Sebastian. Soma looked at Sebastian in surprise.

"The Phantomhive family presents our curry product which is the curry donut," he said and held a new whole donut out to the audience. Vincent proudly placed his hand on Astre’s shoulders and smiled down at her. She smiled again. When the judges took a bite, all their eyes became as big as teacups.  
“It explodes in your mouth. Its hard shell merges with the soft contents,” said the chef, almost smiling with joy. The taxman was too busy eating it to add anything to the sentence.

“Ohh… a young girl I met in an afternoon full of people. A dove flying lost around her birdhouse with a voice like a mockingbird, but her eyes have a teasing expression of a fox luring its victims. I really want to hold you, my blue dove,” exclaimed the Viscount in the greenhouse. Astre had almost lost her foothold and grabbed, with a stronghold one of Soma’s arms, who looked surprised at her and at the Viscount again. Vincent put a protective arm around her as he threw lightning with his eyes upon the Viscount. Astre shook and held around her waist. He should never touch her. Never.  
____________ 

While the audience and the participants waited for who had won, the queen came walking in through the doors of the greenhouse. She smiled and waved to the many people who looked at her in surprise. Vincent took Rachel by the hand and went along to greet her majesty, as many of Ciel and Astre’s father's friends did. People around them had started eating the various dishes and in Astre's brain, she could count to more than 100 people eating the buns that Sebastian had made.

"Ladies and gentlemen. It has been decided that the Phantomhive family has won the curry festival competition!” said the man with the trophy and handed it to Sebastian, who passed it on to Vincent.

"But why!?" exclaimed Mr. West. They all looked at him, but when the queen threw her arm out, people looked around.

“This curry donut does not only think of the children. They also think of the children who do not get nearly as dirty fingers as they could when eating curry,” she said proudly. Astre smiled big at Sebastian. He bowed again. Next to Astre, she could see Agni standing with a sad expression on his face.

"I lost?" he asked. Astre stroked his arm and smiled up at him.

"No. Your curry was just as good, and maybe a curry the queen could enjoy in the white tower,” said Astre, smiling and holding out his hand to ask if he would go around with her and taste the other curry dishes. He looked at her with a puzzled look and then took her hand.

"My Lord!" someone was shouting behind them. Astre turned around wondering and looked at an Indian woman with black hair and gray eyes. She threw herself at Lord West, which Soma spotted.

"Mina ?!" exclaimed Soma, running to Mina. Astre and Agni looked at each other and both ran to Soma. Mina had a questioning expression on her face as she looked between Soma and Agni.

“I've finally found you, Mina! I've been looking for you all over England. You must have been so scared when you were kidnapped from us. Come on, let's go home,” said Soma like a puppy who had missed his master for so long. Astre and Agni walked slowly towards Soma as if to get him away before something went wrong, but it was too late.

“Are you an idiot ?! Who are you who think I want to return to India? I refuse to live in a place like the abominable place that you call home. I'm dead tired of looking after such a selfish boy like you!” she shouted up into Soma's face. Agni had fallen to the floor and cried while Soma stood still like a statue. Sebastian walked quietly to Astre to get her away, but she held up her arm to say stop.

"Is that why? Then you have to apologize a lot. I did not know how you felt about this and how Mina felt about everything we were doing. Sorry I got you all the way to England instead of being in India-” said Soma and walked past a very angry and confused Mina. Astre looked surprised at Soma, who was walking towards Agni, who was lying on the floor.

"Thank you for everything. But the good thing about you is you have always been there for me no matter what. Will, you still be by my side and be my Kahansama?” he asked, holding out his hand to Agni. Agni took it and cried quietly, but enough that it meant anything.  



	8. The picnic that didn't go as planned

The days went by one by one and in the summer before school would start the Phantomhive family was invited for a picnic trip with the Midford family and other acquaintances. Instead of taking the carriage, Sebastian had suggested that they could take boats there, as they were easier to transport with the food, that way. Rachel had thought it was a wonderful idea and Astre had just nodded when they were reading during their afternoon tea.

So now they sat and rocked in boats that were on their way to the picnic. Astre, Ciel, Edward, and Elizabeth all three sat in the same boat, while the boat in front of them sat their parents in. Edward sat and scowled at Ciel, while Astre had taken her legs under her chin and kept an eye on the water which was crystal clear. Ciel and Elizabeth leaned over the railing to take a better look at the fish swimming past.

Ciel was wearing a white shirt with a blue jacket on. Around his neck, he wore a black bow, and instead of wearing trousers, he wore a pair of blue shorts.

Elizabeth was wearing a pink dress with puff sleeves. Around her neck, she wore a pink bow and her puffed skirt was as pink as her headband with the little bow.  
Tanaka stood next to Sebastian and little ones chatted with him while Paula stood holding a pink parasol over Elizabeth's head. Sebastian had tried to hold a blue parasol over Astre, but she had ordered him to lay it away.

Astre had her hair sitting in a braided ponytail while her dress was blue like her brother's, but she had thrown the jacket away so only the white shirt was left. Instead of having a black bow around her neck, Sebastian had tied it around her waist in fear that she would cough from asthma.

When they landed at the shore with the other people, Vincent had got up and received his wife after which he had lifted her down from the boat. Alexis Leon Midford did the same with his wife Francis Midford. Edward had jumped off the boat and offered his hand to his sister, who just jumped off and pulled Ciel's arm. Astre looked at Edward and accepted it so that his hand had not been extended for anything.

"Thank you very much, Edward," she said gratefully and he bowed in response to her gratitude.

Many people had turned up for the picnic which Astre had not expected, so when she saw them, she instinctively withdrew behind Sebastian. A woman in a purple dress came walking up to Vincent and nodded to him. He bowed and then smiled at her.

"Ahh, it's good to see them again, Lady Agares. I still expect my son to go to Weston College this fall,” Vincent said, smiling at Lady Agares. She nodded and smiled at Ciel, who was standing with a straight back and a big smile. Astre knew well that Weston college was only a school for boys and since Astre's father had gone to it, it also applied to Ciel that he should go to it, but did that mean she should be home alone?

"Well, I hope so too. My husband is already looking forward to it,” she said.

____________

The rest of the morning, Astre followed with her mother for the rest of the day, when Astre suddenly heard Elizabeth's shrill voice.

"CIEL !! Try to see what's here in the area,” she said, holding a newspaper in front of Ciel. Astre put down her glass and walked over to Elizabeth to see what she was talking about. Ciel had stuffed his head with cake so he could not answer, which Astre had been happy about. In a way. Then she could talk to Elizabeth. Finally.

“There is a special stag that lives on a hill in this area. It is very special. It makes people happy, and I wondered if Ciel would go out and look for it with me,” she said happily. There was something inside Astre that sank or was smashed. She had never had time with her cousin because she would always rather be with Ciel and now that they could finally be together she would rather go on adventures with Ciel than her.

"The white stag you say -" Suddenly Sebastian's voice sounded behind them, which gave Astre a shock, "it is said to be a messenger from the underworld. If you hear its message, it will finally bring happiness and joy to those who find it ”. Astre looked with surprising eyes at Sebastian while Ciel finished eating his cake. Elizabeth shone with stars and shone so much that it was dazzling Astre.

"Well, then we must leave immediately. Come Astre. You, Elizabeth, and I will go out and find that deer,” said Ciel with a big smile on his face. Astre backed out a little and shook his head.

"It is not certain that I can. Did you forget I'm sick? And besides, Elizabeth wanted to go out with you instead of me. Then just have fun,” she said sadly and turned away from her brother and cousin. Rachel had been standing nearby with her friend and had heard the sad song from her blue dove. So when Astre had passed her, she quickly grabbed her daughter's arm.

"We can take you. It's time for you to have fun this summer,” she said, smiling at her daughter. Astre smiled big and hugged his mother. Ciel had heard it all and smiled, after which he pulled in his sister so that they could find the perfect outfit to wear to the expedition.

While Astre and Elizabeth stood in the tent with all the dresses, Ciel had already put his on. His clothes consisted of a white shirt with the same black bow and a green jacket. On his head, he wears a hat that was often seen on the people who were out on adventure wearing. But now he was wearing a pair of green trousers with black boots. Around the waist, he wore a belt and on his hands, he wore black gloves.

Elizabeth had finally decided to put on a light blue dress with a large belt around her waist. Her sleeves had puff sleeves at the shoulders that her pink dress had. On her head, she wore a small brown hat and on her feet, she wore brown boots. Her hands, like Ciel's, were covered with a pair of white gloves.

Astre had chosen to wear a green dress in the same color as her brother. Her dress had a skirt that was flat and sat close to her, while her sleeves were simple and had no puff sleeves. On her head, she had chosen to let it sit as it had been when she had come to the picnic. Unlike her brother and cousin, Astre had chosen to wear gloves, which had given her mother a shock, but when Astre told her that she could not feel the trees or plants in that way, she understood.

When the girls and Ciel had settled on the boat, Rachel and her friend came down to them.

"Aren't you going with me?" Astre asked her mother. Rachel shook her head and smiled at her.

"No, I've got a little cough so they're just the three of you -" she stroked her daughter's hair and turned around to Sebastian, "take care of them". Sebastian bowed and started sailing.

____________

It was times like these that Astre had hoped that Soma, or some of her other friends, had been brought along so she would not sit alone on the boat. Yes, Sebastian had been a lot of fun, but he had more attention on the boat than her mood.

"Over there!" Elizabeth shouted. Ciel and Astre both turned their heads towards her and looked surprised to see where she was pointing, but they could not see anything. Astre sat quietly on the chair that had been dragged on board for her on her mother's order, but Ciel and Elizabeth hung over the railing.

"Aww... I had really hoped it was the stag," Elizabeth said a little sadly. Astre smiled at her and looked at her brother, who kept his eyes fixed on the bank.

"We'll probably find it Elizabeth, but-" she looked from Elizabeth to Sebastian, "isn't it about time for lunch?". Sebastian looked at his watch and then smiled.

"Looks like that, madam," he said, bowing. They sailed quietly into the shore, after which Sebastian began to unpack their food. Elizabeth looked quietly around while Ciel talked fish swimming past.

"I really hoped we could find it before lunch," Elizabeth said, looking sadly down at her hands. Astre looked at Ciel and then smiled at Elizabeth.

"If we had found it now, it would not be special, would it?" Elizabeth looked up at Astre with wide twinkling eyes. Astre became quite warm and smiled at her cousin. Had it finally come to the point that she could be with her cousin without anything getting in the way?

"No, you're right. Then we just have to have lunch and go back to look for the animal. What's on the menu, Sebastian? ” exclaimed Elizabeth excitedly. How could she always be so full of energy? It was something Astre wondered about every day.

"Fish and lobster soufflé with fried pigeons" presented Sebastian, as he presented the three plates to the children. For dessert, they got raspberries with cream. Elizabeth, of course, exclaimed that it tasted great while Ciel nodded.

"Thank you. The cream came from the jersey cow. That's why it has such fun but sweet taste,” he said bowing. Astre raised her eyebrows and looked at Sebastian with a questioning expression.

“I had expected a lot from you Sebastian, but I had never expected you on a farm. A funny picture," said Astre and chuckled lightly, as if it were an insult to Sebastian. Ciel looked surprisingly at his sister, but Sebastian just bowed.

"Yes, there is a little humor in my life."

____________

Elizabeth had now gotten up from the boat for the whole afternoon, so even Ciel had grown tired of leading. Astre had already given up looking for it after lunch. It could not be found, could it?

"It's not to be seen anywhere," Elizabeth complained.

"Shall we return"

"No, not yet!"

"Alright," said Astre and leaned back in his seat again. Behind her, she heard Sebastian giggle. There was something by the water that was chuckling. The wind blew and the boat rocked. It was peaceful. No noise nearby. The heat was pleasant around them, yet Astre froze so terribly much. She hoisted her knees up to her to get more warmth.

"Is there anything wrong Astre?" Elizabeth asked, looking worriedly at her. Astre turned her sad gaze towards Elizabeth.

"No, I'm fine, lady," she said wearily as she looked up at the gray clouds. Ciel had gone to sleep on the rug that Sebastian had laid down on the boat. Elizabeth turned around and looked with a steel gaze in the opposite direction of Sebastian.

“Just a little longer. We will find it ”.

____________

The gray clouds quickly turned to rain clouds and the rain began to fall from the sky. Sebastian had quickly taken off his jacket and thrown it at Astre, while Ciel had kept the blanket around him and Elizabeth. The waves had started to get higher and higher so they all 4 agreed that they had to sail to the shore. Ciel and Elizabeth went down the bank with quick steps, while Astre had to go down in gear to be able to go further. Her cough had returned and could hardly speak

"Lady Elizabeth, you have to stop and seek," Astre said softly as she coughed. Sebastian carried her while he made sure to get his warmth into her.

"No I just think I saw it," she said and went on. Astre jumped out of Sebastian's arms, which surprised him, and ran to Elizabeth.

"Aren't you a little unreasonable? We can look for the stag whenever we want or you can take your family and look for the one there,” said Astre tirelessly. Elizabeth held her while they stood in the rain. Elizabeth's eyes had shone with joy but lost it quickly.

"You are a complete idiot. You do not understand anything Astre. Nevermind!" said Elizabeth and cried. Quickly she let go of the roof in Astre, so she fell to the ground with a hard bump. Elizabeth turned around and ran away from her while Ciel ran after her.

Astre coughed and got up to look for where Elizabeth had run. Sebastian had quickly helped her up and had started scolding her for what she had said, but Astre ignored him. She got up and started running the same way that Elizabeth and her bridge had done.

The water had started to pick up and the waves in the river had started to get bigger and bigger. The current was too strong for anyone to stand in it. A little way where the boat, which Astre and the others had come, Elizabeth and Ciel sat holding each other while the boat rocked out on the river. The only thing that stopped it from sailing away was the rope between it and the shore.

"Elizabeth!" Cried Astre, but coughed. "Ciel!". Her brother and cousin looked up and looked at her. They smiled but both shook so they fell over.

"We saw the stag!" cried Ciel. Astre sighed and ran to the rope. The cough had become more violent, but she refused to stop because of it.

"Why do you keep looking for it? We will find it at another time!” shouted Astre as she took off her jacket. Sebastian grabbed her arm.

"You will not jump into the water will you, my lady?". Sebastian looked at her in horror, but Astre tore her arm to her. She sent him a defiant look and jumped into the water. Although the current was too great, she ended up pulling the rope to her brother and cousin. But the time had come. The water from the old dam took over and opened up. All the water it had held in came flowing out of it and swam towards Astre and the others. The boat was smashed so the three children landed underwater. Sebastian had jumped in after them, but Astre refused to let go of the other two as Sebastian lifted her and the other two children out of the water. But by then, Astre's eyes had already gone out of sight.

____________  
When Astre opened her eyes, she got up quickly and coughed insanely. Around her, she could see that she was back in her lonely room. She could see from the window that the day had just begun. Her window stood open so she stood up when she heard a familiar voice.

Astre went to the window and saw a fair-haired girl running around with Ciel. She smiled and walked out the door of her room and down towards the garden.

"Astre" Elizabeth screamed and ran crying to her cousin. Astre smiled and hugged her as she closed her eyes.

"I am alright. I'm glad you're okay and alive -" she said, hugging Elizabeth to her, "but why all the fuss?". Elizabeth backed back a little and went to the table where Rachel and the other adults were sitting and talking.

"I wanted to find the white stag so you could find joy again. I've seen how you have been sitting and cried quietly or how you have stayed away from the rest of us. But I'm glad you're okay,” she said, looking with an uncertain gaze at Astre. Astre shrugged and sat down on the grass next to Soma, who was sleeping.

"Just because I have asthma it does not stop me from living, and protecting you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read that, I wrote that they were going to the circus in the last chapter, well... I gave up on that. I'm really lazy sometimes. If not, then nevermind.  
> Hope that it doesn't change for you for the rest of the story. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this if you did.  
> enjoy the rest of the story :D


	9. The weird boy

There were only 3 days left of the holiday before Ciel had to start school, which gave Astre nerves. Should she be home alone and taught? Maybe she could beg her mother about being taught with Elizabeth. Astre sat alone inside the dining room while she munched on a banana. Her classes had been canceled, and when she had nothing else to do, she sat and read a story written by a well-known author from Germany.

"Have you heard?" shouted Ciel, who ran into the dining room. Astre put her book away and looked at her brother. What did he want now?

"What have I heard?" she asked a little annoyed. Why should he always disturb her when she did something she loved to do. Alone.

"We are going to a costume ball at the Trancy family manor. Dad must have made an agreement with the family and then he thought that the rest of the family could meet us," said Ciel happy. Astre stared blankly at him. Was he serious?

In through the door, from the other side of where Ciel had entered, ran Soma in and hugged Astre.

"Astre !!! I've missed you!" he said, squeezing Astre into him. Astre sighed and closed her book. It might also be irrelevant to read on now.

"Soma. How nice to see you here. Ciel had just come in with news that we were going to a costume ball- " said Astre and turned around to look at his brother," do you have any costume you can wear? Or is it something we need to get from… Nina Hopkins? ” asked Astre resignedly. Ciel shrugged and smiled at their father, who came walking in the door.

"Nina has already made your costumes and that also applies to you, Prince Soma. Your costumes are in your rooms, and please take them soon, as we will be leaving soon,” said Vincent. Behind him, stood Rachel smiling at them. Astre jumped out of Soma's arms and walked towards her room.

____________

When it was time to leave, three carriages stood in front of the Phantomhive mansion. The first was to Vincent, Rachel, Astre, and Ciel. The second was to be joined by Soma and Agni and the last one was to be joined by Baldroy, Mei-Rin, and Finnian. Tanaka and Sebastian were sitting with them.

Vincent was disguised as a professor who was going to teach his students how to fool the best of everyone. He wore a black jacket with a silver cross over his neck. On his nose, he had a set of glasses that did not have spectacle lenses.

Rachel was disguised as Rapunzel sitting up in her tower. Rachel had her hair sitting in a long braid and she wore a light blue dress with a gold belt around her waist. Behind her right ear sat a purple flower.

Ciel had gone all the way into the pirate adventure. He had been given a blue admiral's jacket, with a severe one on his left side. Inside the jacket, he wore a flared white shirt with a pair of gray trousers and a red scarf bundled around his waist. A brown belt was fastened over his chest and on his head, he wore an admiral's hat with a white feather.

Unlike her brother or mother, Astre had chosen to dress up as one of the Greek goddesses. She had chosen a whole black Greek dress with silver bracelets that sat up by her arm. Around her waist, she wore a variety of different colored glitter belts that were to show the different stars in the sky. Her hair was loose and hung down to her shoulders while on her head she wore a hairband with different stars so her hair looked like a gray sky filled with stars.

Rachel had thought that the idea of being a Greek goddess was a fun and exciting idea, and since Astre had read so much when she was in the reading room or elsewhere in the manor, one could only expect such fun from her.

____________

The trip to Trancy Manor was shorter than Astre had expected. Like the Phantomhive ground, were there a lot of people to see as they drove by. Astre had been told that the Trancy family was almost as rich as the Phantomhive family and Allen Trancy, who was the leader of the Trancy household just as Vincent was the leader of the Phantomhive household, also attended the secret meetings as Vincent. Their father was not really happy with the man, but the more power the two families had together, the better.

The carriage stopped in front of a mansion that had two floors and had construction build from the Renaissance era. Many carriages were queuing one by one up to the main entrance. Opposite the main entrance was a large lawn with nothing on. But between the lawn and the gravel path in front of the main entrance, were there  
lights shaped like the candlesticks they had at home, where there was room for three candles.

When the Phantomhive family's carriage was finally stopped at the main entrance, the twins' mother and father went out first, then Ciel and finally Astre. There were people in front of them who went up the stairs and behind her the karate continued, while Sebastian and Tanaka steered it away.

The doors stood wide open and inside the door was a large entrance hall. There were paintings all around the walls and in the ceiling hung a golden candlestick. There were two entrances to the rest of the manor house. An entrance into the 1st floor and 2nd floor. A double staircase went from each side of the hall up to a balcony with an entrance to the 2nd floor, and under the balcony, there were two closed doors to the rest of the 1st floor.

The family was led into another hall, which was filled with people. There were tables with food and hidden behind bushes and trees lined up in pots, there was a whole orchestra playing music to the people dancing around on the floor. At one of the tables stood the Trancy family, welcoming everyone. Next to them stood the Midford family.

"Ciel!" shouted a happy Elizabeth and ran to the twins. Astre walked a little to the side while Elizabeth threw herself over, Ciel.

Elizabeth was dressed as an Indian. Her blonde hair sat in curly pigtails and on her head she wore a headband that had red and blue tacks. Her earrings were made of gold and around her neck, had she tied a red string around, and let the ends be tied in a bow. She wore a light light brown dress, with a red fabric belt tied around her waist. Over her shoulders, she wore a brown shawl with flanges that were to show that she was Indian. Elizabeth's dress had no sleeves and therefore she wore the bracelet in the same color as her dress. In one of her pigtails, Elizabeth had stuck a feather in it.

"You have to wear one like this too, okay," she said, not as a question, but as a finding. Ciel nodded and bent down so Elizabeth could put it in Ciel's hat. Behind her stood Paula, Elizabeth's maid. She was dressed as an Egyptian princess.

"You are very beautiful, Astre. What are you?” Elizabeth asked, looking up and down at her to find out if she could figure out who she was.

"I am dressed as Nyx. Goddess of the night,” said Astre, nodding to Elizabeth. They laughed and Elizabeth pulled in Ciel.

"You must dance with me," she said to him. Ciel turned around to look at me questioningly.

"Do you want to join?" he asked. Astre shook her head and laughed lightly.

"You can't dance three. Remember you have to be two to dance the tango,” she said teasingly and blinked with one eye. Ciel nodded appreciatively and turned around to dance with Elizabeth. Rachel and Vincent had left Astre to go and talk to the others growing up.

Among the crowd, Astre could skim a red dress and woman whose hair was put in a bun with blood rolling out of her mouth. Aunt Anne had dressed up as the Bloody Countess, Elizabeth Báthory. She was known to have killed virgins and bathed in blood to stay young. Next to her stood Grell. His brown hair had been replaced with long wild red hair. On his nose, he wore his usual red glasses and his normal butler clothes. The only thing that had changed was that it was a red jacket he had in addition to his clothes and on his hands, the white gloves were changed out with black.

Soma and Agni came in the door. Who had put on a checkered detective costume, which reminded Astre a bit of the story of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Agni had a fake white mustache on and tossed the turban off. The green suit complemented the white shirt and the green tie he was wearing.

"Look, young lady," she heard three voices behind her say. Astre turned around and saw her three friends dressed up. Finnian was wearing a Chinese military uniform with a gold ring around his head. Baldroy wore classic ancient blue Chinese clothing with a necklace made of large black pearls. On his head he had a blue flower and on his lips sat a yellow beak. Mei-Rin wore a white skirt and a traditional Chinese top of a dress. On her head, she had a hairband with something resembling pig ears which suited her pig’s snout.

"We are the three creatures on the journey to the western lands -" said Baldroy and was interrupted by Mei-Rin throwing himself at him, "do you like it ?!". Astre shook her head and pretended not to think it was ridiculous costumes.

"They are really great friends. They fit you very well,” she said, turning away from them. For a while it was peaceful. There was not so much noise or she thought so when she suddenly heard a bang. Behind her stood Baldroy with a smashed table and a scythe in his hand.

"Oops," he said. Astre pulled the smiley ribbon. Suddenly there was a clatter, and Astre quickly turned her attention. Down on the floor, Finnian sat crying over a box of smashed bottles on a red carpet. Astre shook her head slightly. Inside the hall, Mei-Rin stood trying to carry an entire tower of plates, and they seemed to topple over at any moment.

"Oh no…" Astre whispered and shook her head. While all the clutter was around them, three servants came running. They looked like each other on a dot and started cleaning up. Quickly one of them removed the broken table and came up with a new-made table with food on it. The other quickly swept the box and bottles away and rolled the long wet red carpet together and came up with a new dry red carpet. When Mei-Rin had stepped over her own feet and was about to lose the plates, the last of the three servants grabbed all the plates. When they finished, all the guests clapped, which included Astre, but there was something about them that reminded them a bit of Sebastian.

As Astre walked around the outskirts of the party, she bumped into one.

"Sorry it was not on purpose," said a boy’s voice. Astre looked up from her red spot on her black dress and looked up at a fair-haired boy with clear light blue eyes. He was wearing a butler outfit and an overturned glass on his tray.

"It is okay. It does not matter to me," said Astre and smiled kindly at the boy. The boy looked sadly down at the stain and tried to wipe it away with the napkin.

"I would hate myself if that stain remained. Please follow me, ” he said, holding out his hand. Astre blushed and accepted it.

____________  
While the boy sat wiping the stain with the napkin from before, Astre looked at him with wide eyes. His bright golden locks falling over his eyes or his movements with his hand. Astre wasn't good at trusting people, but this boy walked away from his job to help her. Astre had taken off her dress and was sitting in a white petticoat.

"All done," he said, handing the dress to her. Astre got up from the beds and went with the dress to a changing curtain.

"What is your name?" the boy asked her. Astre lifted the white petticoat and threw it away.

"Astre, and you?" she asked the boy. The boy mumbled her name as if it were a foreign word he had never heard before.

"James," he said. There was something in his voice that Astre could hear was a lie. His name was probably not James. By the time she stepped out of the changing curtain, she had put her dress back on and let her hair fall over her shoulders.

“You have beautiful blue peacock eyes. Could it be that your soul is just as beautiful when you die? ” he asked her. Astre looked at him in surprise with big questioning eyes.

"What?" asked Astre. James smiled and put his fingers on her cheeks. His eyes were gentle and looked around her face to look for something special, but his smile only got bigger when he could not find anything.

"If we got married, would our children have the same beautiful blue eyes?" he asked, putting his hands around her waist instead. Astre just froze and could do nothing but look at him. While Astre's eyes were locked with him, James raised his hands and took her hairband from her, after which he ran away from her.

"Hey, wait!" she said, running after him. When Astre ran out into the hallway she could not see him either at one end or the other end of the hallway. Where had he gone? She gritted her teeth and became annoyed. He had thrown wine at her, after which he had taken her hairband. She turned around and heard footsteps down the front of the hallway, after which she set off running.

Astre ran and ended up in a kitchen. She had coughed the last part of the run when she had arrived at the kitchen door, but she would not give up. She loved that headband and James had an explanation to do. Astre slowly entered the darkroom, coughing through all the dust around her. Astre's eyes found a door at the far end of the room, which she quietly opened. On the other side of the door was a staircase leading down to something resembling a dark basement. A puff of dust came towards Astre and she coughed terribly. But she refused to give up. Slowly with a shaking body, she went down the dark stairs. When she arrived at the end of the stairs, there was a single candle and several rows of cans of different spices. In the background, she heard a boy's laughter and Astre turned around to look at James running up the stairs again.

"Come back!" she shouted, running after him. Astre ran as if something was on her heels. The hallways reminded her of the nights she would search for her brother's room or her parents as darkness gripped her. She could feel a cold go through her and how the sweat drops began to roll down her forehead. She slammed a few doors open and ran out of the mansion out into a forest. The hot summer had become cooler and the bright day had become darker.

Astre stood up from the tree as she slowly tried to get back the weather she had lost during her running trip.

"What's wrong-" a voice asked her in the dark. Out of the darkness came James walking with a smile mixed with worry and satisfaction, “trouble breathing? Does it hurt? If it was, I could lick it away from you, do you want it? ”. James walked towards Astre and stopped a little away from her as Astre looked furiously at him.

"I have had enough. Your Christmas games have become boring, Alois Trancy! ” she said annoyed. James' facial expression went from shocked to satisfied again.

“So you figured it out. How boring! ” said Alois, crossing his arms. Astre smiled contentedly to himself.

"I figured if you got me alone you would have the courage to do anything to find out who I am without my parents wanting to watch, right?" she said, nodding to Alois to show that she was still strong even though she had asthma.

"Was that why you followed me or was it for this one?" he said, swinging the hairband around his fingers. Astre shrugged and leaned away from the tree.

"Both, you might say. My dad said he had something important to tell your dad, and since you are my age, it was just putting 2 + 2 together. My and your father want us to be engaged if I am not mistaken, ” said Astre, staring at Alois. He smiled and bowed to her.

"I must say. It's something of a lady you've got, Sebastian, " said a voice behind Alois. Astre looked with wide eyes at a man who looked like Sebastian except that his hair sat in strands around his head and he was wearing glasses.

"you are quite right. There's nothing my lady does not figure out, Claude,” said Sebastian's voice and came walking behind Astre. He bowed to Astre, but her gaze was on Alois.

"But I do not just want to be engaged to you, Astre Phantomhive. No, I want you to be mine right now. But if I can not have you, everyone in there will be killed. We can not have that, can we? ” said Alois teasingly, walking towards Astre, who was frozen to the spot. Alois put his hands on her waist while thrusting his nose against hers.

"You can do whatever you want-" said Astre, pushing himself out of his arms, "you can try, but who said you would end up actually succeeding". Sebastian smiled with a smile that said that no matter what they think, Astre had already won.

"Should we go back to the others or would you rather stand here and look like an idiot?" asked Astre with his hand outstretched to Alois. Alois huffed but took the arm of the worthy opponent.

"Let's go".

____________

As Astre and Alois walked into the hall with Sebastian and Claude, Astre could see her father nodding at them at Allen Trancy's. There was a smile on both their faces that Astre did not like. People whispered as Astre and Alois walked down the hall together.

"Ladies and gentlemen. I really have to apologize for coming so late to this ball. I'm Alois Trancy, son of count Allen Trancy and countess Emilia Trancy. I'm so honored that you came, ” Alois presented as he walked to the center of the room, then bowed. "May I present my fiancée Astre Phantomhive". Astre curtsied to the audience, ignoring her brother's objections and her friends' whispers.

The guests around them clapped and said congratulations on the engagement and wished them all the best in the future, and while Alois enjoyed it, Astre looked away from them. Rachel looked away from Astre as she walked over and whispered something in Vincent. Vincent nodded and kissed her cheek.

“Come Astre. It's time to go home. I'll pick up your brother, but say goodbye to your fiancé first. Tomorrow will be different, ” Rachel whispered into Astre's ear. Astre nodded and walked over to Alois, who was busy talking to one of the guests.

"Alois, it's been an adventurous night, but I'll have to retire. Hope your evening is good again, "said Astre and curtsied to him. Alois turned around and bowed.

"Hope to see you again, my beloved property," he said, whispering into Astre's ear. She shook all over but ignored his whisper. She was nobody's property. Quickly, she turned around and walked with a stiff back to her mother, brother, and father, who was waiting on the other side of the front door.


	10. The not so good news

The day after the costume ball had been slow if you asked Astre. Her mother had been too busy to cast a glance at her at all. Vincent and Ciel had been embarking on missions ordered by the Queen.

The time had only been 15:00 when Astre had sat inside the reading room and sang a little song. It was about no matter how hard she worked, she would never get long enough without him. For Astre was “him”, her will.

On the other side, Rachel stood and heard the whole song and the only thing she could do was cry for herself. Her daughter felt alone and needed some to help her. And what Rachel was going to tell did not help.

"Astre, are you in here?" she asked, though she knew she was in there. Astre just nodded and looked out the window. Rachel carried a letter and laid it down next to Astre.

"What is that?" she asked her mother. Rachel looked with sad and happy eyes at the same time. What she was going to tell her daughter, was something that had kept Ciel and Vincent from Astre.

"Your brother has to start school the day after tomorrow and you have to start school the day after tomorrow too, but you have to leave tomorrow. Astre you have to go to the school your aunt Anne and I went to. You have to go on Un Rose Flourie, ” she said to her daughter. Astre looked at her mother wondering.

"But is it not in France? Mom, do you want me to start school in France? Alone!?" asked Astre in a raised voice. Rachel nodded sadly to her daughter.

"You had been enrolled in school when I gave birth to you and your brother. But we kept it a secret as we could not bring ourselves to say it. You have to go there for 6 years, ” she said. Astre jumped down from the window sill and slowly walked away from her mother while shaking her head.

"You're lying," she said. Rachel tried to reach out for her, but Astre avoided her.

"You do not want me! Is it because I suffer from Asthma. Is that all? Because I’m not to blame, Mom! Or is it because you never loved me because it will make sense! ” she shouted at her. On the other side, Mei-Rin stood and heard it all. She knew that Astre had had a hard time, but hearing it was something else.

Rachel looked at her daughter in horror as she quietly wrapped her arms around her own waist. Seeing Astre snap and cry in front of her was something she had not expected she would ever see.

"Astre…" she said softly as she tried to make her daughter fall, but Astre refused to listen to her.

"Don’t even try with your, Astre…. I'm tired of my life depending on what you, Ciel, and Dad think it is like. I have been trapped like a dove inside a birdcage. You have no idea how happy I was when I could get out of this terrible mansion, ” said Astre louder than she had wanted. Rachel looked at her daughter in shock and turned around to walk towards the door, out of the reading room, but before stepping out of the room, she stopped.

"You will marry Alois Trancy and you will study at Un Rose Flourie," she said over her shoulder and walked out the door. Anger rose Astre to the head, so she ended up throwing a book after the door. As the book hit the floor, Astre fell to the floor and began to cry.

Her life had only been her trapped inside the mansion. Her brother got engaged already as a 2-year-old. And now that she was 11 she had not only been engaged to a brat, no, she was also sent away from home to a country that did not have the best history with England.

Why could her parents not see that this was not the life she wanted to live? She wanted to be with her friends. Marrying someone she was in love with. And she wanted to decide for herself what education she should have, but that's how the world was screwed together.

The rest of the day she avoided her family members or other people. When Sebastian came in with her food and tea, she asked him to go as soon as he had come in and had put the food on the table.  
____________ 

When the sun rose the next day, Astre was already sitting on her bed, looking out the window. She had not gotten an awful lot of sleep because of thoughts that had poured over her head.

When the maids had come to wake her and help her in her clothes, they were very surprised by an Astre sitting on his bed. The women whispered quietly to each other, but some of them unpacked her dresses and others found her things and unpacked them. Astre sat staring out at the blue sky with the sun shining right into her face. The heat from the sun made her tired and the chirping of the bird made her relax.

"Lady Astre, will they raise them up so I can put their dress on them?" asked one of the maids. Astre obeyed her question and stood up. All morning Astre did not say a word. She let people talk to her while she either nodded, shook her head, or shrugged.

Her joy had disappeared and as she walked down the hallways to the dining hall, to have the last meal with her family before school started, one could, if one had a good eye, see Astre cry in silence. A talent she's had since she was 5.

When Astre had come down to the dining room, Ciel and Elizabeth were already sitting eating their breakfast. Sebastian offered Astre a chair, which she accepted, and began to eat her breakfast. The breakfast consisted of 2 fried eggs, a few sausages, and a bun. Astre ate in silence while Elizabeth talked loosely about how she was looking forward to her and her friends starting school at her home. Ciel nodded and began to tell that he was just as much looking forward to starting at Weston College.

“What about you, Astre? Where are you going to go? ” asked Elizabeth. Astre stopped her fork, which was on its way into her mouth, and laid it down on the plate. She wiped her mouth and looked at Elizabeth with her sad blue peacock eyes.

“I have to start with Un Rose Flourie. My mother studied there when she was little, so I was enrolled in when I was born, ” said Astre, looking down at her plate again. Rachel had told that story to Astre. Astre had chosen to ignore her, the words had still entered her head.

"Wait, is it in France? Are you going all the way to France? ” Elizabeth asked in surprise. Astre looked up at her and looked at her very quiet brother, who chose to look elsewhere than at her. Astre nodded and took a grape from his plate.

"Yes, it does, which means that in about 3 hours I'm on my way across the English Channel, alone." Said Astre, looking between Sebastian and Ciel. "So much for locking me up for 11 years."  
____________ 

When the 3 hours had passed, Astre found herself on a ship to France. She had said goodbye to her family, after which she had been cried over by her friends, especially Finnian and Soma, and got a big hug from Sebastian. Now she stood alone on the ship, La Voile, waiting for the unexpected.

There were many people on the ship, La Voile. Many were rich people going on holiday to Paris, while somewhere there were some 2nd class people. While most people chose to be inside the ship's, under the roof, Astre had chosen to stand outside and watch the waves crashing against the ship. A couple of servants had offered her something to drink, after which she had refused. What she needed was to feel the wind blow against her face as she felt herself tilt back and forth.

Astre had taken the ship from Portsmouth and was about to disembark at Caen. Then she was to leave for Un Rose Flourie, which was the castle of Château Fontainebleau. King Francois the first, had been so generous in giving the castle to the nobles and future royals from France and other countries that their children could be taught at school. You went to school for 6 years. Astre had been told by her mother that the school was divided into colors.

\- The blues were the wise and clever ones.  
\- The Reds lived up to France's nickname, the country of love.  
\- The yellows planned parties and balls.  
\- The greens were the ones who thought about nature.  
\- The purple ones were the royal ones.

Out on the horizon, Astre could glimpse the coast of France. The seagulls had already started flying around her and scurrying, while more and more boats had started to appear on the sea around the ship. Slowly she walked off the deck to get inside.

When the ship docked, Astre stood waiting. People around her stood excited and bent over each other just to look a little at the coast of France. While bridges were being thrown down on the quay, people were standing and filling the entire space they were to walk on. Loads of various goods and cars were hoisted down on the quay and people rushed over to say hello or goodbye to their acquaintances.

"Lady Astre Phantomhive, if they will be so kind as to follow," said one man. Astre looked in front of her and saw a tall man with brown hair set in almost the same style as Vincent. He was wearing a liberi and was standing in front of a closed car. At the back of the closed car, was Astre's luggage already strapped.  
Astre nodded and was led by the lackey into a new invention, the car, and soon after, the whole wagon began to shake as it drove past the many people and cars. Astre exhaled and looked sadly out of the carriage windows. For 6 years she was again locked inside her birdcage.  
____________ 

The trip was not particularly short. Outside the window, Astre saw forest, and field past her. From what she could count, she came through 10 villages and a small part of Paris. In the village when she drove by, people had waved to her, after which she had waved again. It had been an experience to see so many different people in such a short time, but when she had come to a small part of the French capital, Paris, there were many cars driving past her.

Astre was fascinated to see carriages and cars driving up side by side as if the past and the future were right next to each other.

After 3 hours of her sitting in the car while it was driving, they had finally arrived.

The entrance was blocked off with a metal fence and the spikes' tips were made of gold. On the other side of the square were there 4 large areas of grass lawns on the large square of cobblestones. All the stones were perfectly placed so that one could not see a single arch, came up from the square. Between the 4 lawns, a cross was made of cobblestones between them so you could walk around the square without stepping on the grass. On the way up to the castle, there were small trees in boxes all the way up to the end of the road. At each corner inside the lawns were cone-shaped shrubs with a circle of soil around them.

Around the square was on one side the fence from which Astre came, and the other three sides were the castle. Astre was led, by a butler, up to the castle opposite the fence. The castle was yellow and had patterns of yellow bricks up the wall as in Renaissance times. The castle was on three floors. The main entrance to the castle had a double staircase up to the 2nd floor. Between the stairs, there was a door to the 1st floor.

The butler led Astre up the stairs to the right and opened the door for her to a whole other world.


	11. The new girl in the blue dove's life

As she walked in the door, people were walking around her. Servants, butlers, and children of different ages from 11 - 18 years old. Chandeliers hung down from the ceiling and in the hallway, there were lit up completely in gold. Across the walls were patterns of various figures.

The butler led Astre further to the right as they passed young people in uniforms of various colors. The butler looked at Astre before opening the door to an office.

"This is the principal's office. He will help you figure out which color to go to, ” said the butler, closing the door behind him. Astre stood alone inside the room and looked around. To the right of the door was a mirror showing a girl, with long hair sitting in a tuber. Under the mirror was a dresser with a vase of white flowers and a few pictures of students, Astre reckoned. On the other side of the door was a large painting by King Francois 1. The walls opposite the door were three large windows. Like Vincent's office, were there a table close to the windows and the back of a chair facing the mirror.

"Ahhh lady Astre Phantomhive, it's really nice to meet them," said a man behind her. Astre turned around and saw an elderly man walking up to her to shake her hand. She accepted it. The man was wearing a white shirt with a brown vest. In addition to the shirt, he wore a black jacket. His pants were black and silk made. The hair sat back and on his nose, he wore a pair of round glasses.

"I'm lord Jimmy Blanc, but just call me Headmaster Blanc," he said, sitting down next to Astre. He quickly found 5 bowls and put them in front of Astre. She looked at him wonderingly.

“Each of these bowls has a task that you have to solve one by one, and while you do that, I will choose whether you are a red, blue, yellow, or green, but not purple as you are not a daughter of a king or queen,” he said. Astre nodded and picked up the red bowl.

“A man looks at a girl in the background of a crowd. His heart fills with joy, but he does not know if he should tell her that she makes him happy. What is the best option, ” Astre read to Headmaster Blanc. The man leaned back as he waited for her answer. She looked up from the paper and looked at the man with a wondering look in her eyes.

"Isn't it just too fast. You first have to find out who the other is, and then you can tell each other's feelings, otherwise, you just look like a creep, ” she said. The man nodded and waited for the next bowl.

“Answer the following questions as soon as possible: Who was the third king of France? Who was Henrik the 8th daughter's first husband? Who did the Spanish king Philip II marry? What is the fastest way to win at chess? ” read Astre aloud. Headmaster Blanc took an hourglass and was ready to turn it around.

"3… 2… 1… begin," he said, turning the hourglass around.

"Louis III was king from 877 - 879.

Mary was promised to Francis III of Bretagne, but after three years the contract was revoked and then, in 1522, she was promised to Charles V, but it too was revoked. However, two other men, Edward Courtenay and Reginald Pole tried to ask her to marry her, but she refused them. Mary ended up marrying Philip II, but Elizabeth I never married anyone even though she got the offer from many, such as Robert Dudley, Erik X of Sweden, and Frederik II of Denmark.  
King Philip II had 4 wives. Maria Manuela of Portugal, Maria 1st of England, Elisabeth of Valois and Anna of Austria.

**The fastest matting possible in chess happens after 2 moves, where black puts a white mat with his second move. It is a curiosity because the white himself is to blame for it and can easily avoid it. The mating, which goes by the name "narrative food", takes place according to the following traits (or smaller variants of these traits):

1\. g4 e5 (or e6)  
2\. f3 (or f4) Dh4**” Astre replied to the answers. When the last grain of sand fell, Headmaster Blanc looked up from the hourglass and clapped.

“Not many had been able to respond so quickly and detailed. You do not have to take the other tests - " he said and packed the other bowls away," you are already a blue, which is funny since your mother was red ". He went to the dresser with all the pictures and took a framed picture off of it. In the picture sat a woman with blonde hair put in a braid. Her red dress fits well with the rest of her body. In her hand, she had a red rose.

”Here is your schedule and your key to your room. Do you hope for 6 wonderful years here, Un Rose Flourie,” he said and returned the picture, after which he gave her a book and a golden key.  
____________ 

After Astre had followed her to her room, she now stood in front of the door of her new room. The door was a glass door with a curtain hung in front of it. Quietly she opened the door and looked at a girl. Her hair was brown and set in two braids. Her clothes were a school uniform and the shoes she was wearing were shiny low heels. She was in the process of pulling the curtains from their windows while humming a tune. All of Astre's things were already in place and her books were on the shelf next to her bed. Slowly, Astre closed the door so as not to disturb, but it was too late. The girl turned around and smiled big at her.

"Hi! You must be my roomie, Lady Astre Phantomhive, ” she said, curtsied to her. Astre curtsied again. The girl smiled and sat down on her bed with a bump.

"Sorry… -" Astre said quietly as she went to her bed to sit opposite her. "But what is your name?". The girl looked at her in surprise and then nodded. She stood up and threw herself next to Astre as she stretched across the bed.

"My name is Anne Envie D’aventure and yes, I know I'm sharing a name with Anne Boleyn herself, but believe me, I'm not like her at all. So I know you're from England, but I hope you're okay with me thinking that about her. Ohh no… I have already ruined my first impression on you. Sorry… ” she said and ended up holding herself on the cheeks while shaking her head. Astre laughed and smiled down at her, which made Anne shine again.

"It is okay. I did not live at that time, so it does not really mean much to me, but Anne I really hope we, can become friends even if you share a name with Anne Boleyn 

" said Astre and jumped up from her bed.

"You should probably change your dress to the uniform. We will meet in the church soon, ” said Anne and sat up. Astre nodded and went to find her uniform, after which she took off her dress.

The uniform was a white shirt with a blue skirt. In addition, she took the black jacket that suited the one who had her collars in the color blue. The jacket was like a corset and tightened her chest all the way in as she closed with the buttons on the inside of the jacket. Around her neck, she tied the blue tie tight, but loose enough not to suffocate herself in it. There were two black pockets on the corset jacket, but they were useless. On the same side, as her heart sat, was there an embroidery of a bud, but one could just glimpse the blue flower petals between the green leaves. On the edges of her jacket were patterns of three flower petals in a row. Her shoes were like Anne's and uncomfortable to walk in.

When she was done, she stood in front of Anne with a smile. Anne had kept an eye on every move she had made and seemed interested in how an English noble girl put on her clothes.

"How old are you?" Anne asked her. Astre sat down on the chair to her desk next to her closet.

"I am 11 years old, I will be 12 here on 14 December. What about you?" Astre asked her. Anne put her head on her hands as she looked at the door.

"I turned 12 here yesterday-" she said, and then her eyes lit up. "Which means I'm older than you." Astre sat talking in her head and then nodded.

"Yes, it does."  
____________ 

Shortly after Astre had changed into her uniform, she and Anne were sent to church with the other students. Anne and Astre followed along with the other students and listened as they were told what to do next. They went down the hall, then up the stairs and to the right and then to the left of the building that was opposite the fence. Then they went down the stairs and looked to the right so they were standing in front of a church. It was called the Chapel of the Trinity. Astre remembered that her mother had said something about praying inside it when it was for Christ.

Children, young people, and adults stood at their seats and waited for headmaster Blanc. Astre stood next to Anne with other students who were also blue. As they stood waiting, Astre could see Anne staring at a boy. The boy was standing next to some of the green students. He had curly hair and had the same pattern on his jacket as Astre, but he was not wearing a skirt. He was wearing a pair of long pants and a pair of shiny black shoes. The places that were blue for Astre were green for him.

"What do you think his name is?" whispered Anne. Astre shrugged and got a big shushed from one of the other students. Why was she shushed?

Down the hallway between the benches, headmaster Blanc walked with a book between his arms. He no longer wore his formal attire, but a white robe, a bit like a priest wore when he prayed to God. On his head, he wore a white square hat. He straightened his glasses a little as he had laid his book down on a pedestal.

"Good evening, everybody. Then another year has come to us and we must take the good day and accept the chance for a good year. This year we have again got many new faces and to them, I would like to say welcome to our school. Let God be with us, and pray every time we have time for it, ”he said, holding his arms up to the sky. Astre stood and looked up at him with wide eyes. Anne was dying to laugh.

"Let's welcome each other in a good way," said the headmaster. Then he finished his speech and first walked out the door. The students clapped after him and started walking out after the teachers had left the chapel.

"Hey-" Anne said, grabbing Astre's arm. Astre turned around at her incomprehensibly, but when she saw where Anne was looking, Astre sighed with a smile. "Can we just wait for him to come?" Astre nodded and waited with Anne before the boy came walking towards them. As he walked past them, Astre grabbed his arm.

"Hi. My name is Astre Phantomhive and this is Anne D’aventure ” presented Astre and raised Anne. The boy looked between the girls, after which he bowed to them. The girls nodded to him again. Anne was completely engrossed in the boy so Astre shook violently on her face.

"My name is Liam Jardin Verts," he said. Astre turned around and looked at her roomie to see if she had heard it. She did not have that.

"His name is Liam, Anne. And do you know why he told us that? That's because we presented to him, ” said Astre, throwing Anne at Liam. Liam smiled with a smile. Together they went to the dining room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The symbols ** means that I have taken from another place and is therefore not mine.


	12. The first day of school

When the day was over was Astre and Anne sitting in their room. Anne lay on her stomach as she swung her legs in the air and read aloud from a book. Astre sat in front of her mirror, brushing her wavy hair while keeping an eye on Anne. Suddenly Anne slapped her book and sat up on her knees, after which she laid her book on her bedside table.

"Astre, can I ask you something?" she asked, Astre. Astre slowly laid her brush down on the table in front of the mirror. She turned around and looked at Anne.

"Yes, you're just asking," she said and got up from the chair to go to her bed, after which she started pulling her duvet off her bed and sat up by her pillows.

"Do you believe in love?" She asked. Astre looked up at the ceiling and thought about the question. Love was many things. Love for her family, dog, husband, or lovers. But had Astre ever believed it? No, she hadn’t. She had always felt alone and outside the community of her family.

"Love is not something you believe in, but feel it more," she said and turned away from Anne. Anne hummed in response and lay down on her bed while she thought about what had happened since Astre did not believe in love.

Shortly after the girls had gone to bed, they both fell asleep. Astre turned and turned in bed, but ended up sitting up while she looked out into the darkness. Why could she not sleep? Did she miss anyone? Or did someone miss her?

____________

The next day, Astre and Anne had changed from their nightgowns to their uniforms. Many young people were walking around outside their door when they opened it. They all headed towards the dining room for breakfast. Astre and Anne followed and let themselves go aside if some of the older students came by. One should not bump into some if one does not want trouble with them.

Inside the dining room, were there 7 tables. 6 tables for the different year groups and 1 for the teachers. While the teachers' table stood along the short wall, the 6 tables were along the long walls. There were mixed colors at each table and on the tables, there were vases with different colors, which meant that there were flowers with the colors red, purple, blue, yellow, and green. The oldest students sat furthest to the left, while the youngest sat furthest to the right. Anne sat down at the end of that table on the far right, while Astre sat down opposite her. There were no more than 50 people at each table.

"May I sit here?" Liam asked. Astre looked up from her hands and looked up at Liam who had not straightened his curly hair. Anne looked up eagerly at him, which was a quiet yes. Astre nodded and kicked Anne over her leg as if to say she should get herself together. Suddenly, while people were eating, Atre heard people saying, His Highness. Astre turned around and looked at a boy with black flat hair. His eyes were brown and had the same uniform as Liam minus the green part, which was purple. Anne got up quickly to curtsy to him, while Liam got up to bow. The boy went to the table where Anne, Liam, and Astre were sitting. Astre got up with Anne and nodded to the boy. Behind the boy went four people. A girl and three boys. They all sat down right next to Astre and Liam. The boy looked at Astre and turned around to whisper something in the ears of his followers.

"Your Highness, it's an honor," Liam said, nodding to him. The boy smiled and nodded again.

"It's good to meet them, but please call me Lois," he said, after which he turned around to look at Anne and Astre.

"What are your names?" he asked, blinking. There was something about him that reminded Astre a little too much of Alois.

“My name is Anne D’aventure and this is Astre Phantomhive. And him here ” Anne said and laid her hand on Liam. "His name is Liam Jardins Verts". There was something in her voice that said he was hers even though Astre doubted that Lois wanted Liam for himself. Which Lois thought about Astre. He nodded as if he understood her and turned around to knock his arm out and show the four people he had come with.

"These are my friends from the French court. Carlos Joya- ”, a boy with curly black hair and olive skin. He had the same hair color as Lois. "Pauline Coeurs Rouges, Nathan Valentin and Enzo Framboise" presented Lois and a girl with two boys looked at them, after which they turned their gaze away. Pauline had brown hair put in a bun. Her clothes were the same uniform as Astre, but her color was red. One boy had red hair cut in the same shape as Ciel, back home in England. The other boy had shoulder-length curly blonde hair. He almost looked like a girl if it had not been for the fact that he was wearing a boy uniform like him the other. They were both red.

"Nice to meet you" whispered Astre and continued to eat her breakfast.

____________

The first class Astre had was with the Yellows. When they entered the room, the whole room was filled with yellow and blue first-year students. Anne sat down at one of the tables that had her name. All the students had been given a name to sit at and Astre sat down next to a girl. She had long light braids in her hair. Her uniform was like Astre’s, though she had a yellow color. On the table, she had laid her book down and looked down at her fingers. Astre slowly sat down next to her as she smiled an appreciative smile. The girl just nodded.

“Good morning students! I'm Professor Bleu, ” said one woman, walking in the door. She was wearing a blue dress with long blue sleeves. Her corset was laced in enough so you could see she was trying to get thinner than she already was. Her hair was gray and set up in a bun that was set so well that not a single hair was about to spring out of her head. The students greeted again while waiting for her announcement.

"Today we have to write about the things we know about in France, in English, thank you. If you come from France, you must write something that happened in France that has affected the rest of the world. You have these two hours to work in. Start, ” she said, sitting down on her chair opposite them as she sat and read aloud from her book. Around Astre she could hear quill pens starting to scrape down on the paper. Next to her sat the girl writing down about various things she thought had happened to the world with the intervention of France. Astre sat and looked down at her empty parchment while she assessed what she could write about. Mary, Queen of Scotland's first husband and their marriage or Lafayette, who helped the Americans revolutionize from England.

Astre ended up writing the last one. As she sat writing, she could hear the girl next to her hooting in silence. Astre had already written her finished when she put her hand on the girl's shoulders. The girl shook wildly but looked up at Astre in confusion.

“It will be okay, ” she whispered. The girl nodded and kept writing.

When the class was over, the students got up and laid their styles on the table, next to the professor's chair. Astre took her book and walked to the exit to move on to her next class when the girl with the light braids grabbed her arm.

"Um, thank you for the help just before. My name is Lissa Löwenzhan, ” she said. Astre smiled at Lissa, who looked away so as not to look into Astre's eyes.

“My name is Astre Phantomhive and I understand how you feel. But remember I'm here for you, ” she said, nuzzling her head. Lissa smiled and nodded to her, after which she ran away for her next hour. Astre turned around and went to the room on the second floor.

____________

As she entered the room, Anne was sitting next to Carlos Joya. They laughed at something. Behind them, sat Lois with more than one person around him. The girls, of blue and purple, sat and listened to him tell a story of what his life was like. One of the girls sat next to Lois and cuddled herself up by him, which was a weird way to behave like an 11-12-year-old. Astre went to Anne and confronted them.

"Where are you going to sit Astre?" asked Anne. Astre pointed behind her, after which Anne and Carlos turned around. Behind them sat one of the girls in Astre's seat. Anne turned around with a face that said sorry. Carlos shook his head with a smile.

"He has that aura around him, Lady Phantomhive," Carlos explained. Astre held up her hand to stop him from saying anything.

"Astre is fine," she said, after which she quickly said, "their highness." Carlos nodded and got up to bow to her. Astre nodded and turned around to see if there was any free space at her seat. It was not there.

"Then they must call me Carlos," said Carlos. Astre nodded. Finally, the professor came, which meant that the girl next to Lois had to get up. When Astre sat down next to him could she have sworn she had something drilled into her neck. She quickly turned around and saw one of the girls staring coldly at her. Quickly, Astre turned around and looked up at the professor.

"I am Professor Dubois. In this class, you will learn about languages. Today we have to speak Spanish with each other. What you need to talk about is who you are and where you come from. And if you have something exciting to tell about each other, please tell them too. I want to walk around between you and hear your Spanish, ” she said and started walking around between the students. Lois turned around towards Astre. He smiled at her as she sat down comfortably in the chair.

“ **My name is Lois II of Bourbon. You probably know who my parents are. I am 12 years old but have been training since I was 7 years old in Spanish, French, and English,** ” bragged Lois. Astre straightened up a bit, after which she looked at Lois right into his eyes.

“ **My name is Astre Phantomhive. Daughter of Vincent and Rachel Phantomhive. I have a twin brother named Ciel Phantomhive. I am 11 years old and since I was 5 years old when I had instruction in Spanish, French, English, German and Latin,** ” said Astre, smiling happily at Lois' shocked facial expression. He had not expected what she could say in Spanish.

" **I'm from France, but someone like you should already know that, but you can not be as smart as I am. I'm the best in my family to fight with swords and dance,** ” Lois bragged again Astre was going insane.

" **I am from England and have visited Queen Victoria up to several times. My father is the queen's WatchGuard,** ” said Astre in a small victory voice. Lois was a prince while she was a nobleman, but that did not mean she could not be as good as him. Lois laughed and shook her head.

“ **Watchdog ?! Can't your police handle their own cases, but then again I doubt anything is happening in the streets of England. It is not as good a country like France,** ” he said as he turned away from her as he crossed his arms in satisfaction. Astre snorted scornfully and turned around to look towards Lois.

“ **Oh yes, France. I mean, it's not because you sent a woman dead, because she heard the voice of God while protecting France and not to mention your civil war, where the citizens wanted more power, after which they put a new king on the throne from the same house that had started it all, but you're right. France is just better than… let's say England,** ” Astre replied again. Lois quickly turned around and looked at her with burning eyes. He lifted his index fingers up in front of her nose.

" **France is my one and all and if I ever find France in some girls here at school in the future, then I can promise you that I will marry her,** " he said. Astre turned around and looked at him in surprise as she nodded understandingly.

" **Do not forget that a French princess married an English king,"** said Astre teasingly. Lois was dumbfounded and looked at her with wide eyes, while Astre's eyes were turned to the professor's table.

" **Who?** " he asked breathlessly. While Astre had turned around to Lois, the professor had gone to their table, waiting for an answer from her.

“ **Catherine of Valois married Henry V on the second of June. They had a child together. Henry the 6th, after which Catherine married the English nobility Owen Tudor and had 6 children. So no matter what, an Englishman ruled France for 9 years,** ” said Astre, smiling at Lois. Lois turned around while mumbling something. Professor Dubois looked at Astre in surprise.

" **Your Spanish is really good, Lady Phantomhive** ," praised the professor. Astre smiled proudly at her and looked at Lois, who was too busy attracting attention to the other girls near him. Astre rolled her eyes and put her head down in his hands.

____________

After the rest of the classes, Astre and Anne had sat outside in the garden, where Astre sat and read, while Anne sat and drew a drawing of her. The sun shone on the girls while the birds flew around in the sky. There were only sounds of the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees and the water splashing out of the fountain. As they sat reading, Liam came walking down the path with Lissa.

"Hello, girls," Liam said and sat down on the bench next to Astre. She looked up briefly from her book to smile, after which she looked down at her book again. Lissa sat on the edge of the fountain that went down like a staircase in a circle. Anne stopped drawing and smiled at the new friends sitting with them.

“Hi, Liam. What’s up?" asked Anne, closing her drawing board. Liam looked around to see if there were anyone other than them in the garden. It was not there.

"Lois has started spreading a rumor and I had to go out and see if you were okay-" he said, but stopped. He looked worriedly between Astre and Anne. Astre looked up from her book and looked at Liam in surprise. Anne had moved further towards Lissa and looked at Liam in surprise. "The rumor is that Astre is a girl who hates France because she is an English girl-" he continued and turned towards Astre.

"He says people should stay away from you since you are not one of us." Anne looked at Astre in horror, but Astre had put her face in a cool face. It was something she had learned to do since she was little. Astre slammed her book together and looked at the fountain. The others looked up at her scared, but she smiled at them.

"They can think whatever they want. Even if it will be for the next 6 years ”.


	13. The first birthday at the Un Rose Fleurie

The rumors stayed for the next 4 months up till Christmas. In the meantime, Astre had written letters to Alois, Soma, and her friends. Every day Astre got to class and ignored the whispering voices behind her, but on her 12th birthday, she had started coughing terribly. The snow outside fell for the windows. Anne had gotten up long before the clock rang to find the gift for Astre, which Anne had commanded by her servants to find the perfect gift for her. Astre slowly woke up when she heard Anne sing a birthday song to her.

"Good morning Anne," Astre said wearily, scratching her eye. Anne jumped on the bed so she woke up a little more.

“Good morning Astre. I have a gift for you, ” she said, holding out a small box. Astre accepted the gift and looked at the beautiful silver ribbon wrapped around the blue gift. Astre quietly pulled on the ribbon and let the little bow unfold. Then she opened the box and she stared with big eyes down at her gift.

Astre had long told Anne that she was called a blue dove at home by her family and she felt like a dove flying around a birdhouse at home in the manor house. Down in the box lay a silver dove with blue diamonds adorned on it. It was a pendant that hung on a silver chain.

"Oh, it’s beautiful Anne. I love it. Ohh I'll go with it for the rest of my life,” said Astre and put it on. Anne smiled happily as she watched Astre put it on. Astre got up to put on her uniform and hummed the birthday song that her mother used to sing to her. Without noticing it, she started singing the song instead. Anne had never heard her sing and therefore had no idea that her roomie could sing, but when she heard the sweet song while her roomie switched, she closed her eyes.

"Can you sing?!" she exclaimed, resulting in Astre stopping singing. Astre looked at her with a shocked expression.

"Did you hear that?" she asked. Anne nodded wildly as she slowly walked towards Astre. Astre walked slowly backward and ended up with her back up against the wall.

"Anne, please do not tell anyone. I have never sung in front of anyone but my mother, ” Astre asked her. Anne stood and tilted her feet slightly, after which she nodded.

"But then I also want you to sing me a song right now," teased Anne. Astre smiled and shook her head and walked towards the door of their room, after which she opened it and ran through it. Anne laughed and ran in front of two second-year students, to run after Astre. Astre quickly ran past the hallways to the hall but slowed down when the cough came.

She stopped quickly and grabbed herself by the throat. Slowly she sank to the floor while her throat began to dry. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Lady Phantomhive?" there was one who asked behind her but she ignored the person and tried to get herself up but fell to her knees again.

"Lady Phantomhive!" shouted the person and took her in the person's arms. She could see nothing but tears and was happy to be carried somewhere other than in the hallway. Her eyes closed quietly in and she disappeared away into her consciousness.  
____________ 

When she woke up, Astre was lying on her bed. There was silence around her and she got up slowly. Anne was not present when she got up from her bed. Astre looked at her watch to see what time it was. Luckily for her, it was only 10 in the morning. Next to the clock was a plate of food. Astre slowly sat up from her pillow and took the plate to her lap, after which she ate from it. After she had eaten, she found her book and read it.

"Astre?" there was one who asked. Astre looked up from her book and looked into a pair of familiar brown eyes. Carlos. Astre quickly put her book away, after which she swung her legs over the edge of the beds. Since she was still wearing her uniform when she fainted, she was still wearing it.

"Your Highness. What are you doing here?" she asked and walked over to him, but when she was at the door she lost her composure in her feet and was about to fall to the floor, but Carlos managed to grab her.

"I came to check on you. And please just call me Carlos,” said Carlos and helped Astre to her bed. Astre nodded and drank a tear from her glass. They sat in silence while Astre fumbled with her fingers.

"Thank you, Carlos, but I'm fine. Normally I just get sick with my asthma and then get better- ” she said when suddenly something hit her. "Will this mean I'll never be allowed to be outside again?" Carlos smiled and shook his head as he stroked her back.

"No, it does not. Shall we go to the next class? ” he asked. Astre nodded and got up with Carlos. Together they went down the hallways to the classroom of Professor Vert. As they walked down the hallways, students had begun to come out to reach their next class. As Astre and Carlos walked past them, Astre could still hear them whispering, but Carlos made sure to scare them away.

When they entered the room, Anne was already sitting alone waiting for Carlos to come and sit next to her. Next to Lois sat Enzo. When they had hours with Professor Vert, was it always the three colors together. Astre found her place next to one of the other blue ones, while Carlos sat down next to Anne.

"Well, you are all here. Should we continue on what we started last time, ” said Professor Vert and sat down at his chair. Professor Vert was a tall man with blond hair. He was wearing a white shirt with a green vest. His jacket, pants, and shoes were black. Astre found her book with her creative scraping and laid it on her desk. In Professor Vert's classes, one had to make a creative creation. Some draw, others painted. Astre wrote a song. Several times Anne turned around to look at Astre, but Astre was too concentrated to look up. The others had noticed that too. When the professor had gone out to talk about something with another professor, Enzo went down to Astre and looked at her text she was writing.

"Are you seriously writing an essay ?!" he exclaimed, giving a set in all the students except Astre, Lois, and Enzo. Astre slowly looked up at him.

"No, Lord Framboise. I'm making an idea list for something else, but if you really want to deduce what I'm writing, then I might as well just read something out, ” she said and laid her quill down next to her ink container, after which she lifted her book up.

"I have an idea. If I could cut every lock of Enzo Framboise's hair off and burn every lock, but it will take too long to do anything about as he is an idiot and does not deserve my attention," said Astre and closed her book and laid it down on the table. Enzo looked at her furiously while the students, including Anne, Carlos, and Lois, smiled teasingly. Astre bent her head to the side.

"But it seems I gave you plenty of my attention, so if I were you, I would go back to your prince and be the little doll and listen to your master's order, unless you want one from such a one like me,” she said, swinging her arm towards Lois to ask him to go. Enzo tsked and turned away from her, after which he went and sat down next to Lois. Carlos smiled and turned to Astre, after which he shouted;

"Happy Birthday! Hope your day got better! ”. Astre thanked and winked at Enzo, who stared wide-eyed at Astre. Around her, she got birthday wishes.  
____________ 

After lunch, Astre had free time alone since she was not the eldest of her siblings. She walked around the empty school with her book. Slowly she found her way to the music room. There were various instruments. Astre moved to the piano, after which she pressed the keys. She then opened her book and placed it next to the piano and began to press the keys.

"I'll be the last one standing  
Two hands in the air, I'm a champion  
You'll be looking up at me when it's over  
I live for the battle, I'm a soldier, yeah  
I'm a fighter like Rocky  
Put you flat on your back like Ali  
Yeah, I'm the greatest, I'm stronger  
Paid my dues, can't lose, Imma own ya, ay  
I've been working my whole life  
And now it's do or die  
I am invincible, unbreakable  
Unstoppable, unshakeable  
They knock me down, I get up again  
I am the champion  
You're gonna know my name  
You can't hurt me now  
I can't feel the pain  
I was made for this, yeah, I was born to win  
I am the champion  
When they write my story  
They're gonna say that I did it for the glory  
But don't think that I did it for the fame, yeah  
I did it for the love of the game, yeah  
And this is my chance I'm taking  
All them old records I'm breaking  
All you people watching on the TV  
You go ahead and put your bets on me, ay  
I've been waiting my whole life  
To see my name in lights  
I am invincible, unbreakable  
Unstoppable, unshakeable  
They knock me down, I get up again  
I am the champion  
You're gonna know my name  
You can't hurt me now  
I can't feel the pain  
I was made for this, yeah, I was born to win  
I am the champion, oh"

When she had pressed the last keys on the piano, she finally opened her eyes and looked up at the painting above her.

"Bravo" there was someone who said behind her. Astre turned and looked in surprise at the woman standing in the doorway. She was wearing a red dress and her hair was set in a braid. She started walking towards Astre and stood over her. Astre fumbled quietly with her fingers as she judged whether to run her way or just stand and wait until she got scolded.

"You have something of a voice. Why don't you sing more, Lady Phantomhive? ” she asked, after which she sat down next to Astre on the chair where the piano was. Astre looked down at the floor as she stroked her arms. The reason she no longer sang was that she had stage fright. She was afraid of what people would think of her.

"I do not really know. I love to sing, but I can't take advantage of it in any way, ” she said, turning away from the professor. Professor Rouge looked up at her in surprise, after which she got up.

“What do you say to, while the other students are being taught as the oldest child in their family and how to take over as lord or lady, then you and I can practice singing and performing? We could start by singing the song, Greensleeves if you know it. Said the professor, holding out her arms. Astre looked between the door and the professor. Finally, she looked at the professor and nodded.

"Okay, we can practice, but I do not want anyone to know. It will only end up that they will hear some of it, "said Astre and nodded. The professor smiled big and started playing the piano while Astre sang along.

When Astre went down the aisles, people had started walking out into the hallways again. She walked alone between them, her gaze fixed on the end of the hallway. Out of the room to the right, the door was opened, and outran Anne, hugging Astre tightly to her.

"Astre !! Let's meet the others, ” she said, pulling on Astre's arm. Together they ran out into the garden.  
____________ 

It was cold and the snow, if they took at the girls, lay all the way to their ankles. Astre and Ciel had run down to their rooms, after which they had picked up coats to wear in the winter. The trees were covered with snow and you could see the branches in the gray weather because they were covered with snow. On the snow, down on the grass, you could see the small footprints of cats and birds.

Anne walked in front of Astre while they walked on the cleared path. When they had walked across the garden and had ended up at the fountain, Liam and Lissa sat and put food down on plates. The food was a chocolate cake with chocolate pieces thrown on the cake. Lissa and Liam looked up from their work and smiled up at the two girls, who walked up to them. They were sitting right next to the fountain that was off and had set up a table with 4 chairs. Anne sat down next to Liam, while 

Astre had sat down next to Lissa.

"Happy birthday Astre!" said Lissa, hugging her. Astre smiled and accepted the hug. Anne lifted her fork and lifted it up as if it were glass.

"Let's hoist our forks and wish the beautiful Astre congratulations," said Anne, and the other two hoisted their forks up in front of Astre. Astre smiled and blushed a bit at her, what she was hoping, friends, and how they had done so much out of her birthday but then again. She had done the same when Lissa turned 12 years old. Lissa had run around in the fallen leaves with the others while eating apple pies.

"What are we celebrating?" there was one who asked her at the opening into the fountain. Astre and his friends turned around and saw two boys standing with their robes. Lois and Carlos walked slowly towards them, after which they had stood next to Astre.

"My birthday," Astre said coldly to Lois and smiled at Carlos. Lois looked down at the cake and nodded, after which he got Carlos to pick up two new chairs. When Carlos came back with the two chairs, they put them on opposite sides of the table, after which they sat down. Astre looked confused at the boys.

"Happy birthday lady Astre Phantomhive," Lois said, smiling at her. Astre looked at him strangely but had nothing to say. Anne had it.

“What in the world are you imagining? you can not just come here and think you can sign up for our birthday party for Astre because you are a prince. You're nothing but a snobby boy. It's no wonder your father and mother sent you away here. I also never wanted a boy like them, ” she shouted angrily. They all looked at her in surprise. Lois got up with stiff legs and turned away from them and walked towards the building again. Astre got up with Carlos, but she stopped him.

"No, I'll do this," she said, running after Lois. Carlos, Anne, Liam, and Lissa stood and looked at each other before sitting down again in silence while eating cake.  
____________ 

Astre found Lois sitting up by the fireplace in the living room. Slowly, Astre had taken off her cloak as she walked towards the boy. As she sat down next to him, there was silence. They said nothing to each other until Astre coughed lightly.

"It was something of a scolding you got there huh. I never think I've seen Anne be so angry in all the 4 months I've known her, ” said Astre, leaning back in her chair. Lois snorted, shaking his head as he looked away from her. There was silence again between them when Astre clasped her hands together and turned around to look at him.

"Why were you sent to this school?" she asked. Lois looked up from the fire and sighed deeply, but still did not answer her. As Astre put her hand on his, he looked up into worrying peacock blue eyes. Lois sighed and nodded understandingly.

"I was sent to this school because I was a brat. I always had my friends behind me and could always count on one of the waiters to do my things for me. One day my mother and father sat opposite me on their thrones, saying, “You are getting old enough to learn about your country. Your mother and I send you to a school where you can learn how to be a king and not a crappy brat like you ”. Since that day, I had sworn I would not forgive them and make this school a hell of a lot for them around me, ”he said, looking away from Astre. Astre processed what Lois had just said to her. She turned around and looked at the fire, after which she grabbed hold of her bird.

“You know… I was a girl who followed her parents' orders from a young age. I was not allowed to walk out a door without my parents or a butler. I was trapped and am still trapped. My biggest wish is that I can go to a country where I can run over the hills and feel the birds around me, but I will never be able to do that "she said and unbuttoned her necklace and took it off to show the bird to Lois. Lois looked at the bird with wide eyes, while Astre put it down in his hand.

“I feel like a bird trapped in a birdcage. A blue dove that can not get out of her bars. That's why I was glad I could come somewhere else, but when it was an order from my mother, I knew - "she said and winked at Lois," that it would be hell ". Lois snorted a short laugh, looking at her with tears rolling down his cheeks. Astre took her hands up to his cheeks and wiped her cheeks dry.

"But the rumors… weren't they a hell to live through?" he asked as he snorted. Astre shrugged and looked into his brown eyes.

"Who started them?" she asked. Lois looked at her incomprehensibly and looked around the room to find an answer.

"I actually do not know. Carlos and I tried to get them away by saying that we had said them as a joke but did not mean it, but the rumors continued, ” he said. Suddenly something had hit Astre. Rumors had been told about her by someone other than Lois and she had treated Lois like a pig. She shook her head and smiled at him. Lois looked at her incomprehensibly, after which Astre stood up with one hand in front of Lois.

"No matter who they were, they have only done one thing better -" she said. Lois looked like a question, which Astre thought was cute. "I trust you and you matured and told people to get along. Only mature people can do it ”. Lois smiled big and took Astre's hand, after which they both went out to celebrate the rest of Astre's birthday. Anne had wanted something against it, but Astre told her the truth about what had happened.

Then Anne made peace with Lois and kept eating the cake in front of them. When Astre lay in her bed after she had written a letter to her brother about her experiences, she then lay down to sleep while she had a warm feeling in her stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii!
> 
> the song I used is "The Champion" by Carrie Underwood.  
> Greensleeves is not mine either.


	14. The first christmas in France

10 days after Astre's birthday, it was finally Christmas. Many students had prepared to go home and celebrate Christmas with their parents, but there was something in Astre that told her she did not want to go to England to celebrate Christmas with her family. Anne had packed her things for the days when they were on holiday, after which she had thrown herself on her bed.

"Where are you going to spend Christmas and New Year?" she asked curiously Astre. Astre fumbled with the pen she had written with and looked at Anne. There was a panic twinkle in Astre's eyes, which meant that Anne immediately sat up. Astre walked slowly to Anne's bed and sat down opposite her. Astre sighed as deeply as she could and looked at Anne.

"I do not have a place to celebrate Christmas or New Year. I could go home, but I have a gut feeling that tells me not to go home, ” she said, looking down at her fingers. Anne got up and laid her hands on top of hers. Astre lightened her gaze and looked into Anne's blue eyes.

"You can keep it with me. I am still always alone as I have no siblings. It will be nice not to be the only one my age,” she said and smiled at Astre. Astre's sad smile quickly became large and could not help but have a big happy smile on her lips.

"I want to," she said, getting up from Anne's bed, after which she began to unpack. While Astre was packing, there was a couple of knocks on the door. Astre stopped her movements while Anne walked slowly forward and opened the door. On the other side stood Lissa.

"Hello, girls. Are you ready to leave? ” Lissa asked. Astre looked confused at Anne, who nodded.

"Where are we going?" asked Astre as she unpacked her last dress. Anne smiled and turned around to let three men in by the door. The three men took Anne and Astre's suitcases, after which they left their room again.

"Lissa will spend Christmas and New Year with us. She is from Germany and has nothing to go home to either. So we're leaving now, ” said Anne, following the servants. Astre nodded and took her cloak over, after which she lifted her cotton hood over her. Together she walked with Anne out of the room and out to the right down the hallway and turned off to go out of the entrance and down the double stairs.

Outside, the sky was covered with gray clouds, while snow fluff fell from them. All around them, the whole courtyard looked like a snowy landscape. The snow was covering the entire square while there were Christmas lights hanging down from the roofs. In the middle of the square stood a large Christmas tree with Christmas lights shining up. On top of the tree, there was an angel who had a trumpet held to the north. Astre looked at the tree while she waited for the car to pick up the three girls. Lissa put her hand on Astre and she turned around.

"Are you ready to have a Christmas you will not forget?" she asked. Astre nodded and went to the car where Anne was sitting inside waiting for them. When the girls jumped into the car, they were still wearing their uniforms. As the girls drove off, Astre looked out the window. Anne told about all her family members she had, while Lissa told about her. Anne and Lissa knew that Astre was not much to tell about her family so they didn’t ask her about her family.

The trip to the mansion was Nogent-le-Roi, which was no more than an hour and a half away. They drove through a couple of villages while the snow fell directly on the car. There were not nearly as many people outside as there had been when Astre had come to France for the first time, but Astre reckoned that it was the weather that was something in the way instead of another civil war. Astre turned around and looked at Anne, who was putting her hair in a ponytail. Slowly the car approached a driveway and Astre looked out the window to see what was outside.

Out in front of the window of the car, there was a large mansion. The manor house was on two floors and had a yellow as its wall, while it was decorated with red bricks around the corners. The windows were right and had blue boards on each side of the windows. There were two pointed blue roofs and an elongated blue roof. On the roofs, there were windows that sat so you could look straight ahead. In the middle of the middle building were doors that were closed to the cold. Up to the doors, there were double stairs, but not as long and high as they had been at Un Rose Fleurie. Opposite the Manor was a large lawn, covered with a blanket of snow.  
Out of the doors, servants ran out to take the luggage off and opened the door to the car. Anne happily jumped out of the car, after which she smiled up at the mansion. Lissa followed her while Astre took the other road around the car. In the doorway stood a woman in a dark purple dress. Her hair was set in a braided bun. In her hair, she had a pearl necklace that went over her hair as if it were a hairband. Next to him stood a Breton dog. Its tail wagged wildly and was held back by the woman's cane. Anne slowly went up the stairs while Lissa and Astre followed her. Anne smiled at her and hugged her.

"Hello mom," she said. The woman's cold stone facial expression looked at her daughter briefly and softened a little, but as she turned her gaze towards the girls, it got cold again. Astre and Lissa curtsied to her as they greeted her. The woman nodded and walked to the side as she let the girls walk past them. When they came in the door, it was once filled with Christmas things. Spruce hung around by the mirrors and candles were lit. Opposite the main entrance was a staircase that went up to the second floor. To the right and left of the front door were two doors. One led to an office while the other led to a living room. Anne walked towards the stairs and stood on the first step, but then she turned around.

"Astre, me, and Lissa are going up to change into something nicer," she said, pulling on her skirt. Anne's mother nodded and walked towards the door that pointed to the office. The Breton dog followed Anne and the girls. When they got up on the second floor, there were two doors. One led the way to a room where Anne had room and the other led to her parents. Anne walked towards her room and opened the door. Astre and Lissa got into something that was a lie.  
Anne's room was large and had a four-poster bed standing in the middle of the room up against the wall. Her windows had hanging curtains over them. To the right of the bed was a table with a book closed. Next to the table were drawers with compartments for her clothes. On the drawer, was a vase with blue flowers in it. Astre counted that there were 6 paintings by different people. On her make-up table, there were 3 pictures of her and her parents. On the floor, some of it was covered by a large rug that had gold patterns squirming around the blue background.

"Should we change our clothes?" asked Anne as she went and hoisted in one of her drawers. Lissa nodded and opened her chest with dresses in, after which she took out an orange-yellow dress. Anne found a purple dress, while Astre had found a pink white dress. Lissa and Anne looked at her dress while Astre sighed. Nina Hopkins had sent this dress to her on her birthday, which Astre had not been too fond of. Astre put it on her arm and turned around to look at Anne.  
"Are you going to wear it?" Anne asked her. Astre shrugged.

"I do not have a choice. Unfortunately, so yes,” she said, closing the coffin behind her. The rest of Astre's dresses were just as pink.  
The girls took off their uniforms and laid them on the bed, after which they stood in their underwear. First, the girls put on their silk chemise. Then they put on their blonde panties that went to their knees.

When they pulled out their corset, Lissa was the first to wear it. Lissa grabbed the post of Anne’s bed, while Astre put her foot on her back, after which she pulled hard. Lissa lost her breath for a brief second but then drew her breath again. Then it was Anne. She had a white corset opposite Lissa’s that was brown. Lissa had taken their uniforms and folded them well, so Astre also had to pull the corset in for Anne. Astre quickly tied Astre Anne's strings together. Astre was the last and could feel Lissa pulling at her strings of the corset.

After putting on their corset, they put on a corset cover so you would not be able to see them wearing a corset when they put on their dresses. Then they put on their petticoat and, just like the chemise, were made of silk. It was large and made the girls' dress go a little up around their feet, like the dresses they wore in 1730, but their dresses only went up to below the knee on them. Then they put on the rest of their dress.

Anne's dress was purple. It had a nice floral pattern down her skirt, while her top of the dress sat close to her. The buttons on her dress sat in front and shone with silver. Around her neck was she wearing a ribbon of purple silk. On her feet, she had black high heels and in her hair, she had put on a bow of purple silk. Anne's neckline was shaped in a circle around her neck.

Lissa's dress was orange-yellow. It was in a single color without a pattern on her dress, but on the skirt sat lace of if all the way around the edge of it. Her top of the dress was like Anne's and sat close to her, but the buttons sat on the back of her, which meant Anne had to button them. Lissa's dress neckline was shaped into a square, with lace sewn on the edge of the neckline. Around her neck, she wore a gold medallion. Her hair was set in a single braid and on her feet, she had put on yellow low high heels.

Astre's dress consisted of a white skirt with fringes down the edge of it and a black line that followed the fringes. Over the skirt, she had put on her pink dress suit, on which hung white lace at the edge of it. Astre's dress had no sleeves and therefore it was sleeveless, but instead, there were white silk strips around her edge at her still-growing breasts. Over her shoulders, she had straps of the silk strips and in the middle of all the strips, was there a black line that also followed from the straps down to her pink suit so it looked like it hoisted the pink suit up so you could see the white skirt. In the middle of her suit by the white strips was a black and white striped bow with a pink rose. Around her neck, she had failed to take the last white strip around her neck and let her blue dove hang around her neck. On her arms, she wore black gloves that went all the way up to her elbows. On her head, she had put on a pink hat with pink roses around the edge. Her hair was set in pigtails. Her shoes were like Anne's.  
____________ 

By the time they got down to the dining room, it was already evening. Anne's parents sat and talked together, but when the girls came in the door they stopped talking and smiled at the girls. The Breton dog sat next to Anne's mother. Astre sat down next to Anne’s mother, while Lissa sat down next to Anne, who had sat down opposite her mother and next to her father. Outside the sky had become dark and the snow could hardly be seen in the darkness. When the food was put on the table, the food was a little different from the English Christmas food they got at home. There were plates of oysters and as a starter, they all got salmon on toast. The girls talked together and laughed about the things that had happened over the school year while Anne's parents listened along. As the waiters took the plates out of their appetizer, they came in with plates of Christmas turkey, potatoes, a creamy cheese sauce, and lobster. For the food, there were baskets with pieces of baguettes if you wanted that kind of thing to your food.

“Lady Phantomhive and Lady Löwenzhan. What has it been like living in France for 4 months? If it had been me who had to travel far from home to study at a school in another country, I would not have been able to endure it, ” said Lord Envie D’aventure. Astre wiped her mouth around and looked at Lissa, who was pulling back a little in the chair. Lissa had never been good at talking to strangers. Astre sat up and looked towards him.

“It was very strange to start a place where I figured everyone would ignore me for… well, me. I'm an Englishman and therefore I was afraid that the history of England and France would be a problem, but it was not at all. Nor for His Highness, Lois II, ” she said, taking a sip of her water. Lord Envie D’aventure froze and looked at his wife, after which he nodded. His wife quickly took a sip and coughed.

"I hope, Anne, that you get a good education and do not have a distraction while you are there," said her mother with cold eyes. Astre and Anne both looked at Lady Envie D’aventure in amazement. Had she thought that Anne would wallow in boys even though she was a girl and away from her parents. After the meal, came the dessert. From what Astre had read in the many books she had borrowed at Un Rose Fleurie's library, the Yule Lodge was an important French dessert for Christmas. Anne then smiled at a cake that looked like something from a tree and looked at Astre and Lissa to find out if that was something they could think of to put their teeth into.

"What do you think?" asked Anne as the cake got cut and handed out on the 5 empty plates. When Astre got a plate with a piece, she took a bite and tasted it. She nodded shortly after and Anne smiled big. Lissa quickly tasted the cake and smiled a shiny smile at the others. After eating, the girls hurried to get up from their chairs to enter the living room.  
____________ The whole evening had been cozy. Astre had heard about all the fun things Anne had done in her life. By the time it was over 11 o'clock, Anne had begun to open her presents with Lissa, who opened hers with her. Astre had been so used to opening presents on December 25 that she could not open some of the presents that Lissa, Anne, and Liam had given her. Astre had received a birthday present from her parents, which was the pink dress she was wearing and she could not stand it, but since she did not have others to look after her, she had to wear it. Her Christmas presents from her family were at school when she had sent a letter to her parents stating that she was celebrating Christmas with Anne on the same day as Christmas Eve. Anne looked up from her necklace she had just opened from her gift, and at Astre, who was cuddling with the Breton dog named Lils.

"Wait, don't you want to open our presents to you?" she asked. Astre looked up from Lils to Anne, who looked worried. Astre smiled and nodded.

"Yes, but I won’t open presents until tomorrow. Everyone in England doesn’t either. It's kind of a tradition, ” she said, smiling at the others in the living room. Anne looked at her strangely and continued to open presents. From Lissa, she had got a small galleon figure of a ballerina. From Liam, she had received a necklace, which she put on immediately, and from Astre she had received a gift with a medallion in it. When she opened it, there was a picture of all her friends from the Halloween party at school. Liam had disguised himself as Jack the ripper, which had given Astre small panics. Anne was disguised as a Chinese woman. Lissa was disguised as a witch, while Astre was disguised as a vampire. Anne got up and threw herself into the arms of Lissa and Astre.

"Oh, how beautiful they are. Thank you very much girls,” she said, holding the medallion close to her chest. Astre smiled with Lissa and cuddled on with Lils.  
As the girls went to bed after changing their dresses into nightgowns, they greeted each other good night and lay down under the duvet. They all three slept in the same bed when it became a cold night. Anne lay in the middle, while Lissa and Astre laid out on each of the sides of Anne. While they slept, Astre had turned and turned. Another nightmare.


	15. The holidays are gone, but the dreams aren't

The next day she woke up in cold sweat. Next to her, Anne lay sleeping soundly while she had hugged Lissa to herself. Astre swung the duvet off and jumped to the floor as she slowly walked over to her presents. She had sat down on the floor and was about to open the first gift when Lils came in. Astre turned around and was assaulted.

“Come on Lils, let's go down to the living room. I just need to get dressed, ” she whispered, sending Lil away. Then she got up and put on a whole pink dress with pink lace down the edge. Then she put on a little jacket around it and gathered her three presents together. With quick low steps, she walked out of Anne's room and closed the door behind her very quietly.

The whole mansion was quiet. Waiters went with mouse steps as not to wake anyone. As Astre passed them, they whispered good morning and continued their work. The Christmas decorations were still hanging and made it seem almost strange to walk into the unfamiliar house. As Astre stood in the living room, she could finally see what the tree looked like. It shone in different colors. There were Christmas balls in all sorts of colors and around the tree hung cookies that Astre had not noticed. Astre sat down on the sofa, after which Lils jumped up and lay down next to her. Astre opened the first gift, which was from Liam. It was a book. It was called Evelina and was about a young lady entering two worlds. From Lissa, she got a notebook that was blue. On the first page, it said, "for when you are creative and want to write a little". Astre smiled at the notebook and put it together with the book next to her. The gift she had received from Anne was a little heavier than the others. The gift was round and when she had taken the bandage around the gift, Astre sat holding a music box. She gently opened the box and saw the figure inside the middle hoist up and fall down again. The figure was a bird with a leaf in its mouth. A pigeon. The melody was the melody that Astre had sung at home. A tune she felt safe with.

"Good morning Lady Phantomhive," said a woman's voice, and Astre quickly slammed the lid shut, after which she turned around and looked at Lady Envie D’aventure. Her hair was no longer put in the same shape as yesterday but had a braid hanging around her shoulders. She was wearing a nice green dress and her gloves were white. Around her shoulders, she wore a green cloak with cotton around the edges.

"Good morning, Lady Envie D’aventure" greeted Astre again as she smiled at the woman again. Lady Envie D’aventure just nodded and looked away towards the front door. She quickly turned her back on Astre and walked out the door with her head held high. Lils, next to Astre, growled at its owner's exit. Astre nodded as she stroked the dog's head.

"Believe me I feel the same," she said to Lils and opened the new book she had received from Liam.  
____________ The days of the holiday went faster than Astre had expected. Over the mornings, Anne and Lissa came walking down the stairs to say good morning every day, while Astre had more and more nightmares. While eating breakfast, Anne and Lissa talked more and more loudly, while Astre had started to get quieter and quieter. By the time the sun had risen, the girls had run outside and started building snowmen and playing snowball fights. They played all morning and throughout the afternoon until Astre could no longer breathe and had to sit down.

One day Anne and Lissa stayed outside while Astre sat inside reading further in her book. Suddenly, while Astre was sitting and reading, Anne and Lissa came tumbling in through the door. Astre quickly got up from the sofa and laid the book down and ran out to them.

"Are you okay?" she asked the girls. Anne and Lissa laughed and smiled up at Astre. Lils had run out to Anne and licked all over her face so that a wet blanket laid over her face. Astre helped Lissa up and stand while she lifted Lils from Anne.

"We are just fine. I can not believe that we are already going back to school tomorrow. It's really a shame we could not be together outside more than this,” said Anne and wiped her face. Astre nodded as she helped Lissa out of her outerwear. When the girls had gotten out of their outerwear, they had sat down in front of the fireplace while drinking hot cocoa with marshmallows in it. Astre sat with her book and read aloud from it, while Anne and Lissa sat and embroidered 5 different roses in their respective Colour.

"And if you went to-" Astre stopped herself from the book and closed it, after which she looked at her friends and lay down towards Lils. Anne looked up from their embroidery and looked surprised at Astre as she sent wondering glances at her. Astre had fallen asleep and was lying and raising her breast up and down while her smile was narrow and small. Anne got up from their embroideries and laid a blanket over Astre while she stroked her roomie’s hair.

"Is she tired?" Whispered Lissa. Anne nodded and sat down next to Lissa. She put the needle in the fabric and turned around to smile at Lissa.

"Should we just let her sleep longer? She needs it, don't you think? ” said Anne, continuing to embroider with Lissa. Lils had laid herself on Astre's lap while it nuzzled her head into her lap.  
____________ 

When Astre woke up she was still lying on the floor in front of the fireplace, but this time she had Lils on her lap and a blanket over her. Slowly she got up and nuzzled the little female to make it wake up. There was silence around her and not a single living human being was near her. Slowly she got up and picked up her book after which she walked towards the door to find her friends. Out in the hallway, the Christmas decorations hung up, and around her, the candles were extinguished. Astre walked slowly up the stairs while she listened for sounds that could sound like humans. Behind her, Lils growled and braided her hair, while Astre walked slowly up the stairs. When she got up on the second floor, she looked to the left where Anne's door stood open. Slowly she walked towards the door and opened it. She could hear Anne's happy voice, but when she opened it she saw Lissa and Anne lying on top of each other with knives in their backs. There was blood around them, which was shaped in a pentagram. Astre shuddered in horror and looked around as she looked for someone to help her, but when she came out the door she saw a figure in front of her. The man was wearing a tall hat and in the rays of the sun, Astre could see the silver-gray hair.

"Undertaker," she said angrily. The man turned around and smiled at her. His green emerald eyes looked into her blue peacock eyes. He bowed to her, after which he went and laid his hand on her cheek.

"Guess again," he said, turning silver-gray hair into blood red. Astre looked at him wonderingly and thought about who he might look like. He looked a little like the costume Grell was wearing.

"Grell?" she asked now more uncertainly. The man shook his head disappointingly and turned again. This time he was a little boy. He had blue-black hair. He had a pat on the right eye. He put his hand on Astre's cheek and leaned his forehead in towards Astre.

"I am you," he said briefly and let go of her, after which he went to the door and opened it. Slowly drew the boy Astre to him. He then turned her 180 degrees and held out a knife in front of Astre. Astre looked at the knife in horror, after which she tried to tear herself out of the boy's grip as she screamed, but no tone came out of her mouth. She kept screaming until she could feel something sharp cutting into her side. Slowly, the stinging sensation was replaced with a sharp cutting sensation and something wet flowed out on her fingers.

Astre fell to the floor as she gasped for breath. She turned around on her back as she hoisted her hand up while looking at her fingers dripping blood down her face. In her blurred vision, she could see a boy take his pat on the eye off and slowly show a purple eye with a pentagram in. He moved his mouth, but she could not see what he was saying. The only thing she saw were two red eyes looking down at her.  
____________ 

Astre sat up with a set while she gasped for breath. Anne had thrown her embroidery away and ran to Astre while she silenced her. Lissa had quickly packed it up and put a blanket around Astre's shoulders. Lils had jumped startled by Astre's lap but slowly sat on her again. Astre gasped for breath and fast but got slower and slower. She looked at Anne, who was stroking her cheek. Then she looked at Lissa, who had lain down next to her.

"Don't worry, we're here. Just breathe slowly and safely, ”said Anne, stroking Astra's cheek slowly. Astre nodded and nuzzled Lil's fur, while Astre leaned in towards Anne. Astre felt safe and loved. She was glad she had Anne next to her when she needed it. She was glad that Lissa provided them with things that Anne needed to help Astre relax. Out of the door came Lady and Lord Envie D’aventure, looking breathless. Anne got up and went out to talk to them while Lissa nuzzled Astre's hair that had become woolly in her dream. After Anne talked to her parents, she came back and sat down opposite the girls. Lissa and Astre waited anxiously for what she had to say.

"My parents wanted to know what was wrong and would like to write a letter to your parents Astre, but don't worry it's not going to happen," Anne said in a panic when she saw Astre stiff in her expression. If her parents knew about this and knew she had had nightmares would the little freedom she had been given, disappear. Astre nodded and slowly straightened up, after which she turned around to look smiling at the two worried girls.

"Shall we slip away?" she asked the girls. The other two nodded and took up Anne's room. The rest of the day they did not go downstairs. They ate dinner and drank their cocoa before going to bed. When the girls had to sleep, Lissa and Anne had agreed that Astre should sleep in the middle. Astre had said no, but when she got a pair of sharp eyes she had no choice and lay down in the middle.  
____________ 

The next morning, the girls were woken up early and sent off to school. The girls got their breakfast in the car and ate it up. Lissa and Anne slept on and Lissa had laid down on Aster's lap, while Anne had laid down on Lissa. Astre was not nearly as tired as the other girls, looking out the window as she looked out into the dark sky. Star had not yet left the sky yet and the snow around them as they drove made it all an adventure.

"Why are you like this?" Astre whispered to herself as she folded her hands and looked up at the sky. When the trip was over, the girls walked across the cold snow-covered square. In a few rooms, it was lit with yellow, but in other rooms it was dark. Astre guided Lissa into her room first, after which she led Anne into their room. After Astre had struggled with Anne and her annoying way of annoying her, the girls finally lay in their beds.

"Good night Anne," said Astre and turned his back on the already sleeping Anne. When 2 hours had passed with Astre who had been lying and looking up at the ceiling, Astre had got up and started writing down on her parchment with a letter to her friend Soma.


	16. Another day in school

As the sun's rays shone in from the girls' window, Astre woke up first. She had managed to write 5 letters. 5 letters that would never be sent to her family as it was about what she truly felt. Astre got up from her bed and put on her uniform, after which she put her hair in a ponytail. She then went to Anne and threw a pillow right in her face. Anne fumbled with her arms and sat up straight and looked angrily at Astre.

“What was that for?" she asked, throwing the pillow at her, but Astre managed to duck. She then laughed and tore Anne out of bed so that they both fell to the floor.

"We must have food," said Astre and went to pick up Anne's uniform from the chair and handed it to her. Anne sulked and tore the uniform out of her roomie’s arms. While Anne changed her clothes, Astre sat neatly waiting for her. Anne had quickly put on her uniform and opened the door, after which she and Astre walked out of it and towards the dining room. Many students had arrived at the same time as them but had taken the second entrance from inside the south part of the castle. Astre and Anne had sat on opposite sides of the table while scooping up food. Liam came walking down the hall with Carlos and Lois on either side. They had sat down next to Astre and Anne. Lissa came walking shortly after. Carlos had sat down next to Astre while he smiled at her.

"Have you had a good Christmas holiday?" he asked, handing Astre a package. Astre put her spoon down next to her bowl and looked questioningly at the package. She accepted it and opened it up. Inside the package was a ring with a blue, white and red pattern that went all the way around the ring. Astre smiled at Carlos and nodded in thanks.

“Celebrating Christmas in France was… different. There were some things that were similar to the English traditions, otherwise, there were many different traditions I had never tried before,” she said and closed the box with the ring in, again. She, therefore, took a spoonful of food and put it in her mouth. Lois had sat down opposite Astre and looked intently at his friends. Astre and Lois had become friends after talking out and writing letters to each other over the holidays.

“What about you Lois? Did you have a good vacation?" asked Astre, looking curiously at Lois. He was quickly pushed out of his trance and looked at her, after which he turned his gaze away from her. Astre looked wonderingly at Carlos, who shrugged. Astre wanted to know if he was okay but didn’t ask. After eating breakfast, students were sent off to their classes and have classes.  
____________ 

The classes Astre had today were French, dance, singing lessons alone, and history. She had French with the purple students, where she was to sit next to Lois. Lois was fluent in French and laughed every time he heard Astre come to say a word wrong. Astre smiled and, if the professor was not nearby, tried to make Lois laugh, even though she already knew French. When they were about to have conversations, Astre chose to trick him and pretend she could not speak proper French, but when he told her about all the funny things that could have happened in her life, she corrected him by using its proper French. Lois had not picked it up until he had heard her speak fluent French for the third time, he stared at her.

"So you could speak French?" he said surprised. Astre nodded and laughed at Lois’s facial expression. Carlos had turned around with Anne and smiled at them. Anne leaned back against the table and winked at Lois.

"Her mother has been a student here too," said Anne, straightening up a little. Astre looked away, pretending not to have heard what she had said. Lois and Carlos exchanged glances and looked expectantly at Astre. Astre sighed deeply and turned around and looked at the other 6 eyes.

“Rachel Phantomhive. The famous red rose. She who is known for having your mother and father fall in love, ” she said, keeping an eye on Lois's eyes. Lois blinked quickly, after which he nodded and turned around to think about what he had just been told. For the rest of the class was there quiet between the two students.  
____________ 

For dancing, was the blue along with the red ones. They learned to dance the waltz. Anne was mate with a blue boy from their vintage, while Astre was mate with Enzo. To be honest, Astre was a little scared of him, but she chose to show her strength and smiled at him as he confronted her. Then the music started and they started rehearsing. They had dance classes every day, which meant everyone could memorize them.

"You will not love this," Enzo said as he bowed to her. Astre snorted and nodded to him.

"You too".

When they had got up, Astre put her left arm up on Enzo's shoulder and put her right hand in his left hand. Then they swung to the right and turned around themselves twice while following the big circle. Then they leaned against the floor, where Astre had her arm on Enzo's shoulder and him on her waist. They then leaned back and swung around themselves the other way, doing the same while following the circle in the same direction. They let go of each other and leaned apart, after which Enzo put Astre's arms around her.

"How can you be so good at this? You are an Englishman, ” he said annoyed. Astre shook her head and swung out of Enzo's arms and swung around herself until one of the blues grabbed her. He then swung her around and they leaned against the floor again. They raised themselves again and turned around as they swung around with the circle. A couple of times, the boys turned the girls around in a pirouette.

3 times they made the pattern of swinging themselves to the right and turned around themselves 2 times while following the big circle. They leaned against the floor and hoisted themselves up and swung on. But when they had done it 3 times, they danced the other way in the big circle, where they no longer leaned against the floor but hoisted the girls up 2 times with dancing in between. Then they danced the other way in the big circle, after which the girls were swung around towards the circle and swung in towards the circle with a pirouette in between. When the music stopped, the couple stood in front of each other, with the boys bowing and the girls nodding.  
____________ 

When the time came for the others to attend to class as the oldest in their family, Astre went to the music room and practiced singing with Professor Rouge. They sang winter songs and a few Christmas songs, but Astre enjoyed singing the winter songs the most. When the professor had played the last note of the song "God rest ye merry Gentlemen" she proudly looked up at Astre. Astre sank her chest slowly up and down and smiled down at the professor.

"You are well on your way to singing like an angel. Do you sing at home? ” asked the professor. Astre shook her head and sat down on the chair beside the harp.

"I used to, but when I wanted to sing for my family for our 10th birthday, I panicked, and not a note came out of my mouth," she said, looking down at the floor. The professor got up and placed an understanding hand on her shoulder, after which she nodded.

"Shall we take another song?" she asked, starting to play. Astre quickly got up from her chair and stood next to the piano, after which she began to sing when she was about to start.  
____________ Anne, Lissa, and Astre had talked all dinner about how annoying it had been to dance, while Carlos, Lois, and Liam had talked about how hard it had been to hold the various girls they had been given in their arms. There were a few girls that Astre had intercepted by the girls from Lois that she did not like. Apparently, they had done nothing but flirt with him when they had danced, but what could she do about it. Astre turned around and looked at Anne, who was tossing her hair. Behind her, Astre could see a couple of girls giggling while pointing at Anne. Astre hoisted her apple while her eyes locked at the girls. Then she took her knife and hoisted it up a bit and stuck it into the apple. The girls froze and turned their eyes away from Anne.

"Are you okay?" asked Lois, as he had placed his hand on Astre's shoulder. Astre nodded and continued to eat her food.  
____________ 

The last hour of that day was history. It was with the yellows. Anne sat by one of the other yellows who were on at the same age as them while Astre sat down next to Lissa. Lissa sat drawing a drawing of a girl with a crown on her head. Her hair was in curls and her dress resembled a dress of a queen from the French court. Lissa smiled at her as Astre had sat down next to her. While Astre followed every ink stroke with her eyes, the professor came in.

"Today you have to write about what France and Denmark have in common," said the professor and sat down on her chair. Astre rolled out her parchment and dipped her feather stick in her ink, after which she began to write down.  
When they had finished writing down, Astre 2 had whole parchments filled with history, while the others including had only one and a half parchments filled with history.  
____________ 

The day had passed quickly and when the girls sat in their rooms again, Anne was already asleep. Astre had sat and read her book completely finished and lay down on his bed blowing out the light. For a long time, she buzzed over why she had had it the way she did. Why had she felt a sting of something irritated in her stomach? After all, it was just girls who had danced with Lois. As she lay thinking, she eventually fell asleep.


	17. Not the best white dove day

The cold of winter gradually disappeared. The snow melted from the hot spring that was coming across the country. Small flowers were beginning to sprout from the grass. Around the school, the winter decorations had begun to disappear and vases filled with new flowers had begun to appear here and there. The classes had started to get mixed between outside and inside in relation to where people were. Astre and her friends sometimes sat when they could get to sit outside by the fountain. More and more people began to fall in love, around Astre. It was mostly those who were 4th, 5th, and 6th graders who became boyfriends and girlfriends. Anne was almost immersed in how the boyfriends walked between each other while kissing each other goodbye. Astre wanted to look away as she pretended to vomit.

When the day had become May 14, the school had a tradition called "the white doves day" it was a bit like Valentine's Day, but instead of celebrating it with your loved one, you should celebrate it with the one that people thought fit together. Astre and Anne had both written on a piece of paper the day before which they thought their roomie should end up celebrating the day without knowing each other. By the time the revelation was over, all the students had sat down in the dining room at their tables, where they belonged. Around the hall hung white doves, which flew around. Wreaths of red, white, blue, yellow, green, and purple roses hung around each window. Next to the professors' tables stood a basket of roses. One for each couple.

Anne sat in front of Astre and seemed almost tense at who she would end up with. She might have always been looking forward to this day. Lois and Carlos whispered to each other as they laughed. Liam rolled his fingers while Lissa kept an eye on the flowers in the basket. One of the boys from the reds of the oldest classes went up from his table and began to walk up at the professors' empty tables. He and a girl stood in front of the 6 tables where the girl had a glass ball in her arm. The boy reached his hand into the ball and pulled a note up from the ball, after which he unfolded it.

"Blue Alexis and green Lana, are the first couple," he shouted. A boy from the blues got up while the boys around him hugged and slammed into the air. Lana, who had been sitting next to him, got up with him and held his hand as they walked up to the two red ones. The red boy picked up a rose from the basket and gave it to Alexis, who gave it to Lana, after which they sat down again. As names were shouted up, the roses dwindled and the ranks with ages began to decline from the oldest to the youngest. When they came to the first veins, the boy pulled out a yellow note and read aloud from it as he had done to the others.

"Red Pauline and green Liam," he read aloud. Liam got up gently as he looked at the rest of us weirdly. Astre cast a quick glance between Lois and Carlos, who were just as confused. Anne had become dumb and her bright face had begun to lose light. After Liam and Pauline had sat down next to each other, Lissa and Lois had been called up. Then it was Carlos and Anne, after which Lois was called up along with Chiara who was from yellow. Astre was the last of her friends to be called up.

"Blue Astre and-" Astre held her breath as she closed her eyes, fervently hoping that the boy she would end up with was not someone she had been with, but she did not get that luck.

"Red Enzo". Astre froze as she watched Enzo look with a surprised expression. Slowly the two got up and went up to the glass ball and the girl. The boy had taken a rose and handed it to Enzo while blinking. Astre turned her gaze away from the 538 people who looked up at them. Enzo handed the rose to Astre, who received it nicely, and went down to his place, while Astre followed. There had been silence for a long time between them while the rest were shouted out. Next to Astre sat Carlos. He sat and whispered gentle promising words to her that it would probably go, but Astre had begun to believe that promise he would not be able to keep for a long time.

When they had all been shouted out, they all went to their own place and followed their year to the room they were going to be at. The gentlemen had to make sure that their partner got food and drink and had a good time in general. Luckily for Astre, she and Enzo were going to be in the same room as Anne and Carlos. They were all to sit at the same round table and drink tea. Enzo pulled out Astre's chair, then sat down on it. Carlos did the same with Anne and sat down on his chair next to her at the same time as Enzo sat down on his. Shortly after, the waiters came with trays of cakes and placed them in front of the students. When they had gone out of the door, a servant was left standing. He knocked a few times on the glass he was holding and cleared his throat. They all looked up at him.

“Welcome to the big day called "the day of the white doves". This day you have to do 5 different things. The first is to get to know each other better by talking about things while drinking tea and eating delicacies. Then you go out to do what your partner finds fun to do. At 13:00 there will be dancing after dinner, in which the male partner finds a place to eat. After the dance, the first partner must then experience what the other partner's interest is. When the day is over you can have fun with your friends, but you must have dinner with your partner, ” announced the waiter, after which he turned around and walked out the door. Astre turned around and looked down at her empty teacup. Anne hummed awkwardly while Carlos began pouring up tea for her and himself. Then he handed the teapot to Enzo, who poured it into Astre’s and his teacup.

“So Anne. What are you happy to do in your spare time? ” Carlos asked as he handed her a cake. Anne accepted it and put it on her plate.

"I draw. Ever since I started at this school this fall, I have been drawing Astre quite a few times. But unfortunately, it is the same posses,” said Anne and took a sip from her teacup. Carlos nodded, waiting for Anne to ask him. She had not intercepted it until Astre kicked her over the knee.

“So what do you do in your spare time? I expect them to learn how to be royal, ” said Anne, and laughed. Astre turned her gaze away from Anne and Carlos, who were talking and looking for something she could stare at, but Enzo escaped before she could find her point.

"Lady Phantomhive, what are they doing at home before coming here?" asked Enzo as he took a tear from his teacup. Anne and Carlos became silent and looked at Astre, who had rubbed her hands together. She cleared her throat briefly and sighed deeply, after which she looked up at Enzo.

"I did nothing but reading, dance, and sew, I mean," said Astre, taking a bite of his little cake. Carlos looked at her with wrinkled eyebrows while Anne nuzzled Astre's hand. Enzo raised his eyebrows, after which he crossed them.

“And how can they be? Are you not from England? I think you must then do what you want while you are so much better than the rest of us," said Enzo and lay back in his chair. Astre shook her head and was about to open her mouth when Lois came walking up to them with her partner who had put her arm in the corner with his.

"Are you having a good time?" asked Lois, standing next to Carlos. Chiara smiled proudly as if she had just won something big. Astre shook her head briefly and took her last sip of her teacup.

"Where are you going?" she asked Lois. Lois turned her gaze to Astre and smiled at her. Chiara did not like it.

"We have to go and row in a boat. I love sailing, ” he said. Astre leaned forward.

"On the French lake out there next to the castle?" she asked. Lois nodded, after which he let go of his partner and walked over to Astre with a smile.

"Shall I take you out one day?" he asked. Astre smiled big and nodded. Carlos and Anne whispered to each other, after which they both laughed.

"Then I will look forward to it," he said, offering his arm to his partner, after which they left the room. Enzo snorted, after which he got up and offered his arm to Astre. Astre got up uncertainly from her chair and followed Enzo out of the room.

"Where are we going?" she asked Enzo. He smiled at her, after which he led her to a part of the castle she had never been to. There was a courtyard outside, where the whole square was a cobblestone square with stables, where there were doors so horses could stick their heads out. Astre was torn out of the door and onto one of the brown horses, which had been seen with saddle and reins. Astre ran her hand along its neck while she felt its warmth.

When she had come all the way around, Enzo was already sitting up on the horse and reaching out his hand to her.

"Do you want to feel how the wind against your face feels?" he asked. Astre nodded and was helped up next to him, after which she laid her arms loosely around his waist. Then he set the horse in motion and together they rode out of the castle grounds.  
____________ 

It had been a fun feeling to sit on the horse with Enzo and feel how the wind grabbed her braid and let it rise above her. Astre didn't care that she was wearing her uniform because Enzo was wearing it too. They rode out towards a forest that lay almost right next to their school. There were paths to walk on, but Astre loved how to see through the paths because the trees of the forest were cut in an exactly parallel line to the path. Slowly, Astre leaned in towards Enzo to see it all. Of course, he did not notice it since he had learned from his father that one should never trust the English. When Enzo took off the horse, they had come to a meadow with flowers of different colors. Astre jumped down from the horse and let her gaze wander around the meadow. There were no people around them and around her only she could only hear the wind blowing through the leaves and the chirping of the birds. Astre loved it. Enzo took a bag of the horse and gave it to Astre, after which he strapped the horse on. Astre took the basket and opened it up and pulled a blanket up, swung it over the grass, then she pulled food and tableware up from the basket and laid it on the blanket.

For a long time, Astre and Enzo sat and ate in silence. Astre did not want to talk much with Enzo and the same feeling wrong for Enzo. When they had eaten, Astre got up and threw off her shoes, and ran out into the meadow, while she loosened her braid so that her half-long hair blew around her. Enzo looked surprised at Astre as he watched her dance around in circles.

"Are all Englishmen as strange as you," he shouted. Astre turned in his direction and shook his head.

"No. They are much more boring, ” she said, grinning and jumping around in the flowers as she picked up some of them. Enzo seemed surprised at how she could keep smiling even though what had happened throughout the year had been hard.

"Can I ask something?!" he yelled. Astre nodded as she picked flowers.

"Are you loved?"

Astre dropped her flowers and looked at Enzo. She seemed almost upset and afraid of what he had just asked her.

"Why?" she asked him and walked over to Enzo to help him clean things up. Enzo slammed the lid in and turned around to look at her.

"Because my father says that if people are sent from their family, it means that they do not love them and since you are an Englishman and a girl who only has a future as children give birth, I can clearly see why. You will never become anything. You are the second eldest of your siblings, ” he said and attached the coffin to the horse, after which he looked at Astre.

Astre was dry in the mouth and lacked words, but instead of answering him, she swung herself up on the horse's back. Enzo shook her head, after which he swung up in front of her. Together they rode off towards the school.  
____________ 

After returning to school, they now stood in the dance hall. Astre and Enzo had just gotten in, but instead of having to dance as partners, it had been chosen that Astre should dance with Carlos, while Enzo should dance with Anne. Something about not mixing country blood between each other too much. Carlos bowed to Astre, who curtsied to him. Anne seemed almost annoyed at having to dance with Enzo while she had a clear view of Liam and Pauline. While the teacher went around telling about the dance they were to dance Carlos, leaned towards Astre, and whispered.

"What was it like eating lunch with him?" Carlos asked. Astre snorted and shook his head.

"Just as you could have imagined," she said, crossing her arms. Carlos nodded and looked at the teacher that was in the process of making an idiot out of one of the students from purple. After showing what they should be aware of this dance, she started the music and let the partners face each other. The dance they had to dance was the one they had been practicing for so long every Monday and therefore had to dance it, but instead of getting a new partner as they had practiced, they had to dance with the same partner.

Halfway through the dance, Astre could see Anne trying as hard as she could not let Enzo touch her too much, which he was fine with. Lois and his partner were like two swans on a sow. They danced wonderfully and synchronously that it hurt to look at. Liam and Pauline had outstretched arms and did not follow the movement nearly as much as they should have done. Lissa was swung around, but she seemed to enjoy it. Carlos and Astre were not nearly as synchronous as Lois and his partner, but they were better than most. Having practiced dancing when they were little they were clearly better and could know which steps to use and which not to.

When the song was over, they all clapped and walked out the door to be with their partner eventually, but before Astre could grab hold of Enzo, he had already disappeared. Astre sighed deeply and turned around while finding someone she could be with, but when they had all found their partner, she stood alone in the dance hall. Astre looked around herself as she tried to look for him, but she was alone. Slowly she walked out the door and walked through the hallways while she could hear laughter from the various partners. For each step she took, her feet carried her toward the garden that lay right next to the castle.  
____________ 

There were many students out in the garden, but not many walked towards the long circular water basin that Astre had chosen to sit by. Alone she sat pushing to the water with her fingers while humming songs. She looked up from the basin and looked at all the bushes cut like cones that stretched all the way around the basin on the side facing away from the castle. Without her noticing it, the weather around her had started to get colder and the sky was starting to fill up with gray clouds. 

Suddenly, while Astre was sitting outside, the rain began to fall from the sky. Astre slowly got up from the edge of the pool and walked down the path as she and her uniform got wetter and wetter.

"Rain. How similar to the English weather, ” said Astre, as she held out her hands to grab some of the drops in the water, but they just rolled down her fingers and hands. Her hair had gotten wet and was sitting in clumps around her, but Astre had begun to care. It was nice to have something that reminded her of her home and where she came from.

"Why do you always end up in a place you should never have been at?" she asked herself as she stood looking down at her reflection in the uneven water by the square basin, where in the middle stood a round fountain. Slowly she fell to her knees and now it was not just rain that was the only water falling into the pool.

“Why was I sent here when I am still the second oldest anyway. I don’t only want to be the female gender in my family. I just want to be good at something for the sake of my family, ” she said, pulling her knees closer to her chest as she sat on the edge. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but the rain mingled with her tears so if you had thought she was crying you would not have noticed.

"I can not do anything for anyone. I cry, cough, read my day away. Am I really nothing else?”. More and more tears rolled down her cheeks and evil thoughts began to creep up on her. Astre already knew what her life would be like. She would marry someone who would think she was his property and together they would have at least one son who would be the next lord of some family. Astre leaned back and landed in the basin with the fountain and let itself float on the surface of the water. The cold water pulled through her clothes and her hair swam around next to her. Her shoes had fallen off and were now lying on the gravel while the owner was lying in the water.

"ASTRE!" there was a girl who was shouting. Astre had closed her eyes and left her body lying where she was. She refused to move away from what could help her get rid of her pain. Quickly pulled four arms into her arms and pulled her on from the water. Astre opened her eyes and looked at her roomie. Anne was soaked, but she looked better than how Astre felt. Next to Anne stood Carlos with a cloak that had long since gotten wet. He swung it around her as he rubbed her all over. Lois had come running and grabbed Astre, after which he began to carry her back to the castle. Anne took Astre's shoes and ran with Carlos back to the castle.

"Why?" whispered Astre as she leaned in towards Lois.


	18. The Bastille day

After the small accident, Astre was locked inside her room and wherever she went, there was always a guard who made sure that she did not go outside and not in the rain at all. Astre was once again a pigeon caught in its birdcage. Astre sometimes hid from the guards and tried to run out of the castle, but she was always found and lifted back again. When summer came, it was hardest for Astre. She was not allowed to go outside and she especially was not allowed to be with her friends when they went outside. The only thing Astre could do was look out of her window and watch while her friends played tag or other fun things right in front of her window. Just because she could not go outside doesn’t mean that her friends could not keep her company. Sometimes when her friends were outside, Astre sat at the window sill and wrote in her book while Carlos and Lois discussed who could throw the longest.

But when the time came for Astre to have a summer holiday with her friends, she quickly decided that she would spend it with Anne instead of at home, which she was sure her parents did not mind, but deep down she knew that they would end up sending quite a few letters as scolding for not having come home. She had to take it at that time.

After Astre had told Anne that she would rather spend the summer holidays with her, the smile on Anne's lips had not left her for the next three weeks. She talked about how much she was looking forward to the holiday and the different things they were going to do, so when they had said goodbye to the others, the girls got into the car and were driven off towards the manor. Anne and Astre had talked about what they were most looking forward to doing and what Astre was most looking forward to was France's national day they had had 7 years ago. From what Astre had learned, they called their day Bastille Day for what had happened in the castle Bastille and how the citizens had stormed it, after which they had beheaded, by Louis 16. But that did not stop the royal succession since 8 kings followed him.

“The best thing is that Bastille Day has different things that we have to go through. The first thing is that we must see the military parade in front of the palace. Then we go to the ball at the royal family, where the nobles are invited, while the citizens dance around the streets, while they get food just like the nobles. The last thing is the fireworks that would light up the whole of Versailles, ” Anne said excitedly and smiled big as the car drove them home to the Envie D’aventure mansion.

For 11 days the girls waited for the day to come and when it finally came, they left in the afternoon. Anne wore a red dress with blue and white patterns around her skirt. Astre had found a pink dress and cringed at it, but since she had nothing else to wear, she had to wear it. In the car, Astre, Anne, and Lady Envie D’aventure sat in the back, while Lord D’aventure sat in the front of the passenger seat and talked to them behind him. Astre enjoyed listening to him talk and telling things that a real father would do to his family. That was one of the things Astre missed about her family. Vincent was always too busy training Ciel or being away to be with Astre.

Quickly time passed with them sitting in the car and slowly Astre could see the lampposts standing by the road. In each of them, was there a small flame dancing for itself. Families of all ages all followed the same path as they drove. Slowly the car drove to a cobblestone square where cars and horse-drawn carriages stopped one after the other. Out the window, Astre could see the large castle that she had long known as Versailles. The castle was the same castle that the people stormed.

After getting out of the car, they walked slowly up towards the castle where the rest of the population was waiting to see the guards arrive. Astre and Anne pushed themselves forward among the many people and stood in front to see something. Anne's eyes were completely puffed up so she did not see the person slowly coming walking towards them.

"Hello, girls," said a familiar voice. Astre turned to the side and saw Liam smiling. Astre shouted hello again, but did not know if he heard her, so she waved quickly. Suddenly people around them began to howl and out of the shadows came guards walking down the square and marching all the way. They lined up, after which they began hoisting their rifles and lowering them again. Then they hoisted them again and swung them around in a circle first one way and then the other way again. Eventually, they stopped and turned around and went out to the side, after which three horses rode out of the road and into the square and into the castle. Two of them were wearing nice clothes, while the one in the middle was wearing clothes. As the riders jumped off the horses, the audience clapped off them as they marched in by the gates of the castle. Anne happily jumped up and down while Liam and Astre clapped.  
____________ 

After Astre pulled Anne away from Liam, the girls found Lord and Lady Envie D’aventure. Then they followed the couple into the castle and walked with high-raised heads, which the girls had been born with naturally, and walked through the hallways until they found the ballroom. The ballroom was a room that had white walls and windows that were on top of each other. The large windows were at the bottom, while the small ones were at the top. Everything was framed was all gold with patterns. A few round pictures between the windows and mirrors under the pictures were hung on the walls and like the other, it was also framed in gold. Astre counted that 47 candlesticks had candlesticks made of the purest gold. People in the colors red, white, blue, gold, green and pink filled the space. Waiters walked between them while serving champagne or other beverage.

"Lord D'aventure, Lady D'aventure, Lady Anne D'aventure, and Lady Astre Phantomhive" was it proclaimed. People did not look up from their conversations and kept talking while Lady and Lord Envie D’aventure went down together to meet some of the people they knew. The music around them filled Astre's ears and in the middle people danced with each other. At the end of the row with the people dancing, the king and queen sat while holding hands and smiling. Next to the king sat a boy Astre recognized immediately, and he also caught sight of her. Astre quickly saw him nod to his father and mother and then went to Astre and Anne, who was standing alone when they were twelve years old. He bowed to them while Astre and Anne nodded to him.

"Well, it's a nice surprise to see them come here and visit me. What did you think of the party? ” he asked, swinging his arm out toward the party and its guests. Anne did not listen properly and stood tilting her toes while looking for someone who was out in the crowd of guests. Quickly her face lit up leaving Astre alone with Lois.

"I thought it was wonderful, but how can it be that there is no one but those who dance?" asked Astre, pointing to the very tired dancers. Lois shrugged and followed Astre, but they walked around the crowd of people.

"I actually do not know. It has always been that way. It would be so wonderful the day I find my wife and can dance around with her like that, ” he said. Astre followed his gaze to one of the men, who swung a young woman around and let his hands feel around her body. When the music stopped, Astre and Lois looked at King Henry VII and pulled up his wife, Queen Mary II.

"I am so happy that we are so many gathered on this special day. Hope the party will please you and that my son- ” he said and greeted Lois, who stood awkwardly next to Astre, who smiled at him. The king frowned when he saw Astre, but still smiled “will find a wife tonight or soon at least after you start on Un Rose Fleurie. May this evening never end. Let's go outside and watch the rockets being fired ”. The guests applauded their king and let him pass as he walked towards the door. Lois nodded to Astre, who nodded again and accompanied his parents. Then the guests began to follow and talk together about everything they were looking forward to with the fireworks.  
____________ 

Astre sighed as she walked out of the room as the last. She went down the long corridors that, like the ballroom, had walls filled with gold patterns all around and windows with many gold candlesticks around them. When Astre had come out, the guests stood together with their glasses in hand. Anne stood with her parents next to the royal family. Astre stood a little back from the other guests as she looked up at the sky where the stars twinkled wonderfully down to them. Suddenly there was a bang and up in the dark sky, there was a red color that lit up brightly. Then a white, gold, blue, green, and red again. Rockets after rockets filled the sky. Astre stood looking at the fireworks in amazement, smiling every time a new color appeared.

While Astre was looking at the lights, a man came walking up to her. He had long blonde hair and a white suit. In his one hand, there was a red wine glass and in the other, there was a blue rose. His violet eyes shone forth and he smiled at the girl standing next to him.

"It's a wonderful evening, is it not?-" he said and Astre froze. She had not heard that voice for a long time, ”fireworks filling the sky with its splendor. It is to faint with joy ”. He threw with his arms. Astre stood frozen to his place and did not say a word. She could not believe he was here. Slowly she turned around and looked at the man.

"What is the reason for the honor Viscount of Druitt?" she asked softly as she looked at Lois instead of looking at the performance. The Viscount laughed and put his arm on her shoulders as he whispered a few words to her.

"I just wanted to see how the blue dove is doing. I can see that you are no longer in your birdhouse, ” he said, taking a sip from his glass. Astre snorted and looked at Anne, who was smiling with stars in her eyes. She reminded Astre a little bit of Elizabeth in England.

"The birdhouse may be bigger than you think," she answered shortly. The Viscount laughed and nodded understandingly as he handed the blue rose out to her. Astre raised one eyebrow of it and looked away.

“What do you want?”.

“Money, you and fame”.

“You can always get money. I'm not someone's property and besides, I'm 12 years old. Fame, really? Could you wish for something more selfish. ” said Astre, shaking his head. The Viscount shook his fist, after which he slowly shook it and then nodded.

"If we now take the money and celebrity away. Can I then get you my beautiful? You no longer wear the depressing color blue, but wear a happy pink color ”. He ran his one hand up and down her waist. Astre slowly tried to pull away from him, but could not as he had taken an iron grip around her waist.

"Is my dove about to fly its way" he whispered. Astre tried to push themselves free but couldn't get away. The Viscount laughed at her and pulled her further into him while he whispered sweet words.

"I'm not your dove," Astre whispered, wiping her tears away, but she could not stop them. While Astre was fighting with the Viscount of Druitt, Anne had begun to notice the fuss at Astre and whispered something to her father, who nodded understandingly and called to the king. The king turned around and saw it after which he pointed down at the Viscount.

"Sir, let go of that girl right away. She is not yours, ” said the king. Lois and the others turned around and looked with horror down at the Viscount, who had an arm swung around Astre's waist and made sure she would not be able to get anywhere. Anne quickly took a step forward with Lois, while those standing around them walked a few steps back. The Viscount laughed and shook his head laughing and walked slowly backward with Astre in his arms.

"Do they really think they can stop me, the Viscount of Druitt in England? All nobles in England will be paid a lot of sum money for this girl and if they think you can stop me, then they are wrong ” he said after which he tore a gun out of his pocket at one leg. Now the people shouted around them and each ran their way to get away from him. Soldiers came running and stood in front of the king, queen, and Lois while Anne's parents tried to pull her away. Astre was emotionally loose. Anne cried as she tore herself free from her parents and there was a touch of horror on Lois’s face. Slowly she pushed herself towards the Viscount and tore a knife up from his belt buckle and stuck it into the side of him. He quickly lost the grip of Astre and fell to his knees, after which he took himself to the side. Astre ran towards Anne, who immediately embraced her along with Lois. The guards ran over and grabbed the Viscount, after which they lifted him away from them. Astre's dry tears rolled down her cheeks and her body was pressed against her friends, but she still felt cold. The cold had crept into her and made sure that the only warmth and joy she had left disappeared before her eyes.

"Astre?" Lois asked worriedly, looking at her. Astre glanced briefly at Lois and then blinked a few times before collapsing and fainting. Anne screamed her name and shook her while Lois commanded a couple of guards to pick up a doctor to one of the bedrooms while carrying her in her arms all the way up to the room. Anne went home with her family.  
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"You write to me right away when she wakes up," Anne commanded, pointing with her index finger at Lois's nose. Lois looked very frightened at the finger and nodded not to make this girl in front of him, mad at him. Anne looked pleased and then turned around, after which she followed her mother and father into the car and drove away while still looking for Lois as they drove out. Only when the car was out of sight did Lois exhale and brush his uniform and turn around to go inside. When the silence had settled over the castle. Only the candles were lit. The servants who passed Lois nodded quickly and hurried on. Lois went to the left and found the bedroom that had belonged to the 8th King's family before his father. Slowly he pushed open the doors and saw Astre lying on the bed. Her pink dress, which Lois had not thought fit Astre, had been replaced with a white simple dress with fringes on the shoulders and the bottom of her dress. She almost looked like an angel.

"Out," he said briefly to the maids, who had stood by and helped Astre when she needed it. They nodded to Lois and hurried out of the room, closing the door behind them. Lois sat down next to Astre and smiled down at her. Astre sat up slowly as she took care of herself.

"Where am I?" She asked, moaning in pain. Lois smiled and gave her a glass of water, waiting for her to sink before answering her. The life that had disappeared from Astre's eyes slowly returned.

"You're still at the Palace of Versailles, but you're not well enough to go home to Anne. Do you want to hold the holiday with me for the rest of the time being? ” he asked her. Astre looked at him wonderingly, after which she took a bite of one of the apple slices lying on a platter next to them.

"If I can be allowed to spend the rest of the holiday with Anne too, then I would like to," she said and drank the rest of the water. Lois nodded understandably and put his hand up to her forehead and saluted her, but sat down nonetheless.

"I promise the rest of your vacation will be a paradise," he said, laughing. Astre laughed along and continued eating. The rest of the evening they sat and talked or sat in silence, but not an awkward silence. Lois was happy that Astre stayed with him for the rest of the holiday. It would not have been the same if he were to be alone. When it was time to go to sleep, one of the butlers came and picked up Lois and sent him off to his room and said goodnight to Astre, who said goodnight again. The moon shone in from the windows in the corridors, and in the distant silence one could hear the Viscount shouting that he was ordering his release.


	19. Is there hope?

Throughout the summer vacation, Astre had been with her friends. Astre slept in the castle but was with Anne, Liam, and Lois. When the sun was shining, they were on the beach bathing. The water was crystal clear and the grains of sand were clear to look down on. Anne and Liam swam around in the ocean with Lois while Astre sat on the rug and read to himself. Of course, when the others shouted something at her or wanted her attention, she put her book down. Most of the time she put her book away when she had to help Anne put her ponytail back on or when Liam would show her what he had found. Lois had not asked her for anything and even though she asked if he needed anything he shrugged and pulled under the water to keep diving. When the sun was not shining, they were on the castle grounds or at Anne's home. They had asked Liam if they could come to his house, but he had stayed in the background for a while and said no. Then they had asked no more and enjoyed themselves together. But the cozy atmosphere could not continue and they were soon to return to school. While Astre's things were being taken care of at Anne's home, Astre stood at the castle entrance and looked down. Around her walked gardeners, servants, and other workers working at the castle.

"Are you ready?" Lois asked behind her. Astre nodded weakly and squeezed her arm and started walking down towards the car waiting for them. Lois went into the right side, while Astre went into the left. They did not talk to each other the whole trip. It was hard for Astre. It was as if she had the words on her tongue but could not get them through her lips. Next to her, sat Lois and opened and closed his mouth while he tried to say something to her but could not get it out. Even though they did not talk to each other, they were still together for the rest of the day.  
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When it finally became Halloween, Anne woke up as the first. Anne started her quick routine of throwing her duvet off and jumping out of bed. Then she ran to her closet and opened it, after which she pulled out a hanger with a costume on. Then she ran over to brush her hair and put it up in a high ponytail and put makeup on her face. Then she took off her nightgown and threw it on the floor and jumped in her suit. Slowly, Astre woke up next to her and quietly got out of bed while scratching her eyes and brushing her hair to put it in a bun that had some loose hair. Then she put on her suit. When Astre had put on her suit, Anne was already ready to walk out the door, but when she turned around to see if her roomie was ready she gasped. Astre looked at Anne and looked up and down at her. Anne was wearing a white shirt with a brown corset around her waist, with strings turned out from her belly. She was wearing black pants and brown boots that went up to her knees. On her ears, she wore a set of long gold earrings, and around her neck hung the bronze that Astre had given her.

"What?" Astre asked worriedly as Anne walked towards her. Anne sighed and clicked her tongue as she turned Astre around in her chair.

"I can not allow you to go out like that," she said, alluding to her face. Astre had never tried makeup before and did not quite know how she should feel when Anne put it on her, but when Anne had only put on mascara and a puff of blush, she was already done. Astre turned around and looked into his mirror image. In the mirror, she saw a girl standing in a blue and white dress. She was wearing a white petticoat that went under her knees. Above her petticoat, she wore a petticoat that was blue with the pattern called Fleur-de-lis Seamless. On the white triangle on her breast, there was a blue bow in the middle of the upper part of the triangle. Astre’s hair was set in a ponytail, but with bangs which were curled at the tips that hung next to her ear. At the elastic that held the ponytail together sat a blue bow. On her feet, she wore a pair of brown boots with laces that went all the way up her boots. Her makeup was a lipstick that looked like her skin and a faint blush could be seen on her cheeks. Anne had eventually put eyeliner on her to give her an adorable look, but Astre felt stupid instead.

"What do you say then?" said Anne happily, striking out with her arms against the mirror image. Astre just smiled at her as she tried to fight the temptation to scratch her eyes and ruin what Anne called a masterpiece. To avoid wasting more time inside the room, Astre glanced at the clock and then nodded to Anne to tell her it was time to leave. Anne tore the door open to their rooms and walked arm in arm with Astre. Even though the girls were only in their second year, they could still see from the new students who had started that they were nervous about being stupid when they were walking around the hallways all the time. Anne smiled at many of them, while Astre was a little more the one looking down at the floor. She was not much for being seen and greeted all the time. She hoped the second year would be different than it had been in the past.

The castle was covered up for Halloween. Pumpkins in several sizes stood in a row outside and inside. There were lights in each of them while there were garlands of bats and purple stars. The curtains were drawn and only the candles that stood at a time were lit up. Students of all ages and professors were dressed in different costumes. Anne and Astre went into the dining room and saw their friends sitting at that table for the second year. Anne sat down next to Lissa, who was dressed as the little Little Red Riding Hood. She was wearing a red skirt with a white shirt. Her red cloak hung over her shoulders and behind her neck hung the cap. Her hair was braided and she had put a little pink blush on her cheeks. Astre sat down next to Carlos, dressed as a soldier of the French Empire.

"What are you suppose to be?" she asked Carlos. Carlos put his mug down on the table and smiled at her, after which he picked up a knife from the table and pointed it at Anne, who opened her eyes.

"I am the soldier who discovered the secret of the 12 dancing princesses and causes 12 princes to be cursed," he said, poking Anne, who had taken her knife from the table and struck him again. Astre exhaled resignedly and turned around to look at Lissa and smiled at her.

"I assume you have to be The Little Red Riding Hood," she said. Lissa nodded and hoisted her mug to Astre, who greeted her again. While Astre ate on, Anne and Carlos had stopped fighting with their knives and were now sitting and teasing those sitting next to them.

"You are really beautiful girls, but what are you supposed to be," Lissa asked, pointing to Astre, who had taken a sip of her mug. "I can almost figure out that you're a peasant girl." Astre closed her eyes and was about to protest when a hand rested on her shoulders and she looked up from where she was sitting. The person who had put his hand on her shoulders sat down next to her and grabbed his fork that lay right next to Astre's hand.

"Good morning, Your Highness," teased Astre, nodding her head. Carlos looked at her surprisingly and looked at Lois, who was smiling again. He quickly took a sip of his mug and looked towards her.

"Well, good morning, honorable maiden. I'm sorry to tell you that as a pirate and the most famous Spanish pirate, Pedro Gilbert, I am no superior to them, ” he said, winking at her. Astre rolled her eyes and took a sip of her glass. Shortly after the others had started coming in from the green, Liam came walking down to their table. He was wearing a yellow jacket with a pair of long green pants on. On his head, he wore a tall hat with a teacup attached. Astre smiled as she recognized who he was.

"Oh no, is it already tea time?" she asked Liam. The others looked at him strangely before it dawned on the others what I was talking about and laughed along with Astre as Liam sat down next to Anne. Normally Anne would lean in towards him, but this time she just smiled at him and ran a lock of hair behind her ear. Astre and Lois looked at each other and looked at Anne and Liam again. There was something different about the way they behaved. Before, Anne would sit right next to Liam, while he would shake it off as if he had not discovered it.

"It surely is. Who do I have as guests at my honorable tea table? ” Liam asked, looking down at his pocket watch and then smiling at Astre, who seemed surprised at the way he chose to respond to her question. Carlos was the first to introduce himself.

"The soldier who discovered the secret of the 12 princesses, on duty". He bowed so briefly to exaggerate a little.

"Pedro Gilbert, you do not have any coins I could steal or any rum I could pour in?" played Lois, holding a fake knife in front of Liam's eyes, who was very surprised to see it, but played along by clinking his teacup along with the knife.

"Hi, I'm the little red riding hood. I thought I had gone wrong because this place does not look like my grandmother's cottage, ” said Lissa, waving, after which she picked up one of the roses from the vase in front of her and handed it to Liam, who thanked her. Liam then turned around and held the rose in front of Anne, who had looked down at her plate throughout the show.

"Can I offer a rose to the beautiful girl sitting next to me?" he asked. Anne looked up and at him, after which she blushed. Now the curious feeling had come to Astre, while she saw how Anne took the rose but came to touch Liam's finger and quickly took the rose to herself, after which she blushed more than she already did. Liam's eyes widened and he turned his gaze quickly towards Astre as he tried to process what had just happened.

"And who do we have next to the pirate? A simple peasant girl perhaps? ” he asked. Lois and Carlos looked at Astre as they ate their food. Astre just laughed and smiled sweetly at Liam.

"I'm a simple peasant girl," she said, holding out her hand to give him a handshake, which he had not expected. "My name is Belle, at their service." Liam then smiled and looked down at Astre to see if she had anything he expected her to have. Lois just laughed and put his one hand on Astre's shoulder.

“Well, a beautiful maiden you are. Haven't you heard that if you read too much you end up missing the world as it is? Maybe you should try to be like our friend here " he said and nodded towards Anne. Anne looked with wide eyes at Lois and looked at Astre, who seemed the conflict between something. Anne straightened up and gave a quick smile and held up a sword in front of Lois’s face, after which she said in clear words.

“Jack the giant slayer at your service. But watch your mouth because you will never know when I will strike, ” she said, unpacking her fake sword. Lois tugged at his hat and then nodded toward Anne. Quickly, they ate on while continuing to play their roles. Astre kept an eye on Anne and Liam and their eyes, who quickly looked up at each other and looked away from each other again. Astre sighed deeply and shook her head. When would this torture stop?  
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After breakfast, Astre and her friends were divided. Astre was sent to singing class while her friends were sent to their lessons. As Astre walked down the familiar hallways, something in her eyes caught her attention. It was her butler. Or so she thought. Slowly she walked towards him and put her hand against his cheek. He did not seem to react to it until Astre pushed him. He landed on the floor and looked up at her with a surprised expression.

"Who are you?" she asked slightly annoyed. If this was Sebastian, then she should probably make sure he went home again. This was her new life and if he thought he could just come and have this life in France she had to be the living hell she had back home in England, then he could think again. The man, however, stood up and bowed to Astre as he smiled teasingly at her, but she ignored his smile.

"I'm Sebastian's brother, hmmm shall we say Lucifer?" he said cheekily, but his facade did not last long as it dawned on Astre who he was. Astre gave him a slap and raised his chin up to meet her gaze.

"Your name, Claude," she said coldly. The butler looked at her in surprise and then smiled, after which he got up.

“How?”.

"Easy enough. Your voice is like sandpaper to my ears, ” said Astre, turning around and walking towards her music room, where Professor Rouge was waiting for her, but she did not reach far before Claude grabbed her around her wrist.

“You should have been home 4 months ago. Your fiance was waiting for you at the dock, but when you did not come, he became furious. Your father was furious. ” he said, threatening her. Astre tore herself out of his grip and turned around furiously, after which she took a step towards him, which he had not expected.

"I refused to come home for summer vacation because I am being treated like a dove in a cage. And I do not give a damn that Alois was waiting for me at the dock. For my sake, he could return there every damn summer vacation. I refuse to come home. My dad only deserved to be furious. He and his rules about what to do and say is none of my concern, for he is no longer in my list of people I care about” Astre said angrily and had now pushed Claude into a corner. Her eyes threatened to cry, but she let her fist, which was placed on the wall, make sure she did not cry over her father. Suddenly a funny thought came into her brain and she let out a dry laugh, which made Claude open his eyes a little and look with a little horror down at the little girl holding him towards the corner.

"My father can try to take me out of school, but it will only be my victory in the end because he was the one who said I should start here in the beginning and try to imagine her majestic face when she too knows that her beloved watchdog could not even have his daughter to be elsewhere because her father did not trust her enough. My life is nothing but a doll on strings”. Astre exhaled her anger and turned furiously away from Claude to enter the music room, but Claude put his hand on the doorknob and shook his head.

"His Majesty is threatening to annul your engagement," he said. Astre laughed briefly and shrugged.  
"Let him." With those words, she pushed Claude away from her and walked in the door of the music room. Without looking back at the desperate Claude.  
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After Astre had closed the door to the music room, she had turned around and looked at the empty room. The only sound she heard was the birds' song, the ticking of the bell, and her own heart beating hard inside her chest. It had taken all her strength not to break down when she saw Claude. Why had she thought her life in France would be different and would help her escape from life in England? But after meeting Claude, she could see that she would never have a place to flee to. She would always be the little dove.

She sat down on the stool at the piano and put her fingers on the keys, after which she slowly began to press them one by one. While she was playing, the pictures came out of her family. How she had stood at the window and watched her brother be hugged by their aunt. Lifted up into the air by their father. Kissed on the forehead of their mother or just got a wet lick from their dog Sebastian. How she had stood in the cold and looked at her family smiling without her. Playing with each other and laughing at jokes that came from each other. Why had she been kept away from it? Why could she not be allowed to be invited along? Was she so weak? The pictures were replaced with her friends Anne and Lissa playing out in the snow, making snowmen or her other friends Liam, Lois, and Carlos playing with a ball in front of her window while the girls sat and picked flowers. Why did Astre feel so alone? What was the point of her always being kept outside and seen as a fragile porcelain doll? Astre's fingers danced over the keys and made the most beautiful sad music ever heard by a soul. The music she played was her life. Her sad enclosed life. A life she would never love.

When she stopped, tears fell down her cheeks and the make-up that Anne had put on was destroyed. She got up and put a lid over the keys, after which she turned away from the piano, and walked towards the door after which she opened it, but when she opened it, Pauline was standing on the other side. Her hair had sat in a position of a bun with loose hair, but now the bun was dropping and her loose hair was not as pretty as it had been earlier.

"Lady Coeurs Rouges, it's a surprise," she said quickly, curtsying to Pauline, who was sniffing. Pauline curtsied again and walked past Astre as she asked her to follow. Astre quietly closed the door behind her and sat down next to Pauline, who had sat down on the stool by the piano.

"Are you okay?" asked Astre, offering a handkerchief she had lying in her pocket. Pauline took it immediately and wiped her eyes, which were completely black, and blew her nose.

"He does not want me... Why does he not want me…? Is there something wrong with me? ” Pauline asked unhappily. Astre was confused. Who was Pauline talking about?

"Oh… I do not know Lady Coeurs Rouges, but don’t you think you are too young to think about such a thing. After all, we are only 12 and 13 years old, ” she said quietly, but Pauline would not listen to her. She kept toot and shook her hand to say it was nonsense.

"My parents… got engaged when they were 5 years old… and you can call me Pauline… so it seems a little more personal," Pauline said and kept sniffing. Astre nodded and sat up a bit as she removed her gaze from Pauline. She could clearly remember when Elizabeth and Ciel had been engaged. They were no more than 4 years old when Vincent had called Ciel because he needed to talk to him, but since Ciel did not want to be alone, Astre had to be with him. They had all three stood in front of her father while they had heard the news of how Elizabeth and Ciel were to marry when they grew older. Astre had felt so alone when she saw Ciel and Elizabeth running together out of the room hand in hand, while they had forgotten all about Astre.

"But, we do not have to be like our parents Pauline. I'm glad I did not end up in red as my mother had done. My brother got engaged as a 4-year-old and has all his life only been with one girl who was his fiance. Don't you think he deserves to love someone else? ” asked Astre Pauline. Pauline raised her face up to her and nodded quietly. Slowly Pauline got up and walked towards the door, after which she quickly looked back at Astre and smiled a little.

“Maybe you should try to forgive your family. I hope one day we can become friends you and I ” she said and opened the door. Astre turned to the piano and looked at it, after which she opened the lid again and played on it, but this time it was not a sad melody. This one was full of hope. Her fingers pressed down on the different keys and opposite before where her fingers almost didn’t press down she made sure that you would be able to hear the different melodies she had put into the music piece. The bright keys were hit more than they had done before and this time there were no pictures of Aste's family in her head. This time, Astre saw her life in France as a citizen. Next to her, Anne stood smiling while she had a girl in her arms. Carlos had come to visit from his throne in Spain and Lois stood at the entrance to the castle from his garden. Lissa and Liam had picked fruit and were in the process of making a picnic between the two fountains. That life was something she wanted. A life where she could be herself and a life that was bright with more options for her. A life where she was not already engaged and promised away to someone else.

While Astre was playing, the door opened a little and behind the crack stood 2 figures smiling at each other while they proudly looked at Astre.


	20. Is the raven back?

The days had passed quickly over November and December. The trees had gone from being orange to white in no time. It had started to get colder and the snow had started to lie around the roads and the fountains had been extinguished. The days between Halloween and the Christmas holidays had been fun. Astre had gotten better at her French and Spanish, while Lois and the others had gotten better at English. Astre no longer played only the piano or singing, she could also play the violin. It had been a little difficult for her at first, but she learned it. On her 13th birthday, she had received a gift from all her friends. It was a ring with a blue diamond on it. Astre had been so fond of it that she promised them she would only use it when parties or other events came up.

As the days went by, they also got closer to the Christmas holidays. Astre and Anne sat with Carlos, Lois, and Liam inside the common area where the fireplace had been lit. Around the room, the walls were white and red by the two walls that had doors and glass doors. There were two large mirrors. One above the fireplace and one next to the two glass doors. On the other two walls was a wallpaper that hung down from the ceiling. They both depicted two Roman people gathered in a forest. Around the corners were 2 vases and next to the doors were 3 vases. The chairs they were sitting on were red and the round table in the middle had a red tablecloth. Up from the ceiling hung a golden chandelier. Astre looked at Liam, who was sitting quietly staring at Anne between his fingers, while Anne sat and talked to Lois about the things they had to do in their project that they had been given to Professor Vert. Astre sat at the round table and had a plate of chess standing while she played against Carlos. However, she had to admit that even though she played against Carlos, he was a good opponent. There had been a few times where she had given him great tips to win but ended up winning the round herself.

"How can you keep winning?" he exclaimed. Astre put her queen on a1 and looked at him incomprehensibly.

"Because you are not looking where I have the chance to take your other unprotected pieces," she said again and started showing him a good way to start again. Lois and Anne had long ago finished their project when they went to Carlos and Astre and watched with interest while Astre got the first three pieces from Carlos. While Carlos was studying their board, Astre looked at Liam, who was sitting and looking out the window without casting a single glance at them. There was something wrong with him and Astre knew that. The whole month of November had been awful for Astre to watch. Anne had tried to avoid Liam, while Liam had begun to stare more and more at Anne. Lois had commented on it a few times, but the only thing Astre could do about it was looking at it.

”Aha. I found a way to beat you now Astre, ” Carlos said happily. Astre turned around towards the board and made an overview. Anne and Lois looked at each other as Astre took her queen and placed it where the white king had stood. Carlos lost his nose and mouth when he saw what Astre was doing.

“How?”

"Do not leave your king unprotected so I can just take it without my queen being taken," she said, rising from her chair to walk towards Liam. Carlos continued to play against Lois or tried to. None of them were nearly as good as Astre. Astre sat down next to Liam and looked out of the misty windows.

"Liam, are you okay?" she asked, placing one hand on Liam's hand. He looked away from the windows and looked at Astre. He smiled at her and looked back out the windows. Astre shook her head and leaned against Liam as she whispered to him that he was going to see what he had instead of what he could get. Liam looked at her wonderingly as Astre glanced at Anne. Liam shook his head and whispered to her that it would never be a good idea because his parents would never let that wedding be approved. Astre sighed deeply and nodded understandingly.

"Can't you come and sit with us?" she asked him. Liam nodded and got up, after which he took a seat next to Anne, while Astre sat down next to Lois. Lois was about to lose to Carlos so Astre whispered in his ear while Carlos studied the board. When Carlos had placed his piece, Lois quickly removed it and won the game.

"What?!" exclaimed Carlos surprised. Lois looked happily at Astre, who smiled again. Carlos was about to shout that they were cheating when Lissa crashed into the room. Astre and the others looked at her in surprise. Astre got up quietly and went to Lissa to help her catch her breath.

"I… just got… an answer. It… became a… yes,” she said breathlessly. Astre looked at Anne, who had eyes that shone with joy. Lois looked incomprehensibly at Carlos and Liam, who both shrugged.

"Um… excuse me what?" Carlos asked, welcoming Lissa, who had laid down in his arms without thinking about anything but her breathing. Anne scratched her neck and coughed as if to say that she did not want to tell what they had been up to, so Astre had to do it herself.

"We have asked your guys' parents and Lissa’s if we can have Christmas at Lissa's house, but it's okay if you would rather be at home and celebrate it," said Astre and sat down on her chair again. The boys looked at each other and shook their heads as if they had been told that they were no longer allowed to see their family, but Anne quickly changed their minds.

"Astre has no place to spend Christmas other than with me, but I thought we could all keep it together like Liam, Lois, Astre, and I did during the summer holidays. It could be nice just to be together as a family so we always have each other to go to if we need to, ” she said. Like when Astre had jumped into the fountain, but it hung quietly in the air and no one commented on that part. Liam began to get more clear in the situation and then nodded understandingly. Carlos pondered it for a while and Lois just nodded.

"We agree with the idea, but where should we keep it? We can not keep it at home, as we are the royal family, so it must be with one of you, "said Lois. Astre looked away and pretended she had not heard the question. Lissa shook her arms and smiled at them.

“My parents will be happy to keep it this year. It's in Austria though, but I hope it's okay. Are you okay with that? ” she asked them. Astre just nodded and looked at the others who nodded. And that's how they got the others to celebrate Christmas with each other.

"Wait, I thought you came from Germany," said Anne. The rest of us looked at her with a questioning expression, but Lissa just smiled.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not from there."  
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The snow fell like little pillows down from the dark morning sky. The stars were still present and a few cars had come to pick up the students walking out of the gate. Beneath the feet lay the freshly laid snow pressed together by footprints of animals, caskets, and people. In the middle of the crowd, Astre stood waiting for her friends. Anne and Lissa were in the process of picking up the boys, while Astre had to go out herself. The cold was no worse than it was at home in England. Astre thought back to when she and Ciel would run down the stairs to see who was the first to get the cookie from Tanaka. It was never Astre who did it since her asthma always struck. But after Sebastian had arrived, he had saved a cookie and given it to her when she was about to sleep, if she did not manage to take that cookie, which often meant she never got a cookie at Christmas. Sebastian had been kind and always smiled devilishly as he walked out her door while she sat and ate the cookie in secret.

"Astre, are you coming!" cried Anne, so that Astre was thrown completely out of her thoughts. Astre turned around and then nodded as she walked towards the car that was to drive them to the train station, after which they would take the train to Austria. Astre had never been to countries other than England and France so going to Austria was something new for her. Astre sat down next to Lois and opposite Anne. Lissa sat next to Lois while she sat opposite Liam. Carlos sat in the middle of Anne and Liam and looked like someone who had been told he was going to be tortured, which amused Astre so much that she ended up laughing a little. Lois looked at her questioningly, after which she whispered into his ear. He started laughing and they both smiled at Carlos who flashed his tongue at them.

Throughout the trip, Astre looked out the window and saw how the snow was falling on the road and the cars around them. She enjoyed the winter. Even though it was cold all the time, she enjoyed the winter because it meant that more and more people came in and were with her. Lois sat next to Astre and talked to Carlos while Lissa told all the funny stories about her home with Liam. Anne sat opposite Astre and looked at Liam when he was not looking at her, but as soon as he turned his gaze towards her she quickly turned it away again. It was like that throughout the trip.

Finally, the car stopped at the train station. People were walking between each other. The haze of the train came out of the wheels and the chimney that was on the front end. The passenger cars were red with white frames around the windows. While Astre walked around the platform, most people among them were mothers and children aged 5 - 7 years. They were either jumping off the train or getting on. Astre walked between the fallen snow and the haze from the train while looking at the different people. Anne talked lively about all the things she should achieve and how she should look with Lissa. Carlos and Liam whispered together about something and Lois had his face tucked into Astre's scarf so he would not be recognized. Anne and the others got on the train, while Astre and Lois found a ticket booth where they could pay for their 6 tickets, but they were not easy to walk in the crowd. Astre was constantly trying not to get in the way of people and she was about to walk into someone when Lois grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. They stood up against each other with their noses up against each other and were pushed all the way into the wall.

"Heh… shall we go and pay," Lois asked awkwardly while his face shone red. Astre escaped awkwardly and nodded as she straightened her hair. She had a strange feeling in her stomach. A happy and safe feeling. Quickly, Lois got paid for the 6 tickets and took Astre's hand as they walked through the crowd again. The heat from Lois's hand made Astre's cold body hot. What was this feeling? She had never felt this before.

As they boarded the train there was a whistle and the doors were closed behind them. People were standing in the hallway in front of the train rooms. Lois had not yet let go of Astre's hand as they squeezed through the crowd to look for their friends. Astre looked in each of the different rooms and when she finally saw Anne's familiar smile, she raised her voice hard in Lois and pointed to the room.

"They are here," she said shortly. Lois nodded understandingly and opened the door as they walked in together, after which Astre closed the door behind her. She quickly sat down next to Anne while Lois sat across from her, after which he fell into conversation with Carlos next to him.

"So did I just see you guys holding hands?" whispered Anne. Astre stared at her with wide eyes and shook her head quickly as she tried to reassure her that she had not seen them hold hands at all.

"I was getting lost in the crowd outside so Lois took my hand to guide me through it, nothing else," Astre said and hid her face away. She chose not to tell Anne about their little mishap up the wall. Anne narrowed her eyes and nodded so slowly. Behind Anne, Astre could see Liam looking towards Anne. His eyes looked like someone almost asking for attention.

"Anne," whispered Astre. Anne turned to Astre and nodded in response that she was listening.

"What's going on between you and Liam?" Anne became silent and sat messing around in her hair while she tried to look everywhere but her. But Astre was not weak when it came to her curiosity.

"You look at each other and look away again when you are discovered" Astre pressed, but Anne looked away.

"Anne you have to tell me if something is wrong okay?". Anne shook her head and therefore chose to just fall into conversation with Lissa and ignored Astre and Lois, who had seen it all. Astre got up and from her seat and went out of the compartment.  
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Astre pushed through the crowd and avoided anyone who wanted to get in touch with her. Finally, she came out at the end of the train carriage and stood upon the railing while the wind pressed against her face. Her ears were filled with the sounds of the train and the wind basking in against them and before her eyes, she could see trees, fields, and clouds flying past her. If it were not for the fact that she knew she was on a train, she would have almost thought she was flying. Was this what she was looking for? Was this what freedom felt like? She enjoyed the silence of adults and children.

"Can I keep them company?" asked a voice behind her. Astre turned her face to the sound and looked at the man. He had black hair, red eyes, and was wearing a suit. His hair was not set and hung before his ear and eyes. On his hands, he wore white gloves and held a small pocket watch in his hand.

"You just do it," she said, turning her attention to the train tracks again. The man chuckled lightly and laid his hands on the railing next to Astres. However, a few times he let his right hand slide through her hair that had been loosened after the wind that had blown the hair elastic out of her ponytail. Her hair swung around the glove-clad fingers.

"You're getting older and prettier," he said, smiling at her. Astre slowly turned to him and smiled an uncertain but clear smile. She had missed him even though she would never admit it. After all, he was the friend she needed when she was alone.

"And you haven’t aged a bit, Sebastian"


	21. The little girl in green

Sebastian smiled down at Astre, after which he put his arms around her and then pulled her into him. It had become dark and depressed at home in the Phantomhive mansion. Vincent was no longer at home and Rachel sat inside Astre's room whenever she could. Sebastian had stood in front of Astre's room every morning but was always reminded that she was in France and therefore set about helping his friends.

"Why are you here?" Astre asked into his suit. How Sebastian had missed her voice. Sometimes before Astre left for 'Un Rose Fleurie' he heard her sing when she was little, but he and the others in the manor had begun to forget her voice. He pressed her into him and kissed her forehead, after which he lifted her chin so he could look into the peacocks blue eyes. They had lost the sad expression they used to have.

"I was sent to a meeting with the Austrian Lord Löwenzahn. He has a meeting with your father, ” he said, smiling. Astre looked into the red raven-like eyes she had secretly liked to look at. She had never been good at going through spectacle when Sebastian told the truth or lied. His eyes were filled with mystery and thoughts that other people had not thought. She threw her head away from Sebastian and looked towards the white landscape instead.

"So my father has more work than time for his family, I hear," said Astre and was sad just to hear it coming from Sebastian. After the summer holidays, Astre no longer received letters from her father and received only a few from her brother. Rachel still sent letters, but they were empty of things that Rachel did in her everyday life.

"It has become very sad after your brother and you went to each of your schools. There is no more talking and the laughter that your brother and you made has disappeared " he said and turned away from the landscape and stood leaning against the railing with his back. Astre snorted and shook her head as she held on. The laughter her brother and she had made? What a wonderful dream it was, but it was not quite like that. Astre straightened up from the railing and looked at Sebastian to tell him something when they heard screams. Sebastian tore Astre to himself when the door was slammed open and a man in a brown suit stood in front of them. His face was insane and his gaze was fixed on Sebastian. Astre stood paralyzed to the spot while Sebastian stood ready to jump or attack. Astre was not entirely sure.

"W-Who are you?" Astre asked him, but the man just laughed, after which he pressed the trigger of his pistol and aimed at Sebastian. Sebastian quickly struck out with his hand and grabbed the bullet between his fingers, after which he threw it back right into the man's arm, where he held the gun. The man fell to his knees and screamed a hoarse scream while Sebastian took his other arm and slung the man over the head of Astre and himself, after which he landed in the snow. Sebastian stood to the side and was about to jump off when Astre grabbed him by the arm.

"What are you going to do?" she asked as Sebastian tore himself free.

"My work". Then he jumped off the train platform and landed in the snow a little away from the other man. Astre stood paralyzed with her gaze fixed on Sebastian, who disappeared into the white landscape. Quickly she ran to where Sebastian had stood ready to jump and was about to jump when Lois grabbed her by the wrist and tore her into him.

"Astre…" he said quietly while Astre stood and cried. Why had Sebastian lied to her? Why had he jumped off a train? Had Sebastian survived at all?

"L-Lois," she said in surprise, standing close to him as she sobbed into his sleeve. He silenced her softly as he held her as if she were slipping out of his arms. While they held each other, the train drove on and the white snowflakes flew around them. Astre had never felt so cold in her entire life.  
____________

By the time they reached the train station, they had all gotten off. Then they were picked up by two horse-drawn carriages. In one sat Anne, Lissa, Liam, and Carlos, while Astre and Lois sat in the other. Anne had been a little against having to leave her roomie and friend to Lois, but when she had been told that it was Lois who had again saved her from doing something stupid, Anne then had to bow her head and sit down next to Carlos. As they drove through Austria, Lois had pulled Astre all the way up to his chest so they could get the warmth of the cold horse-drawn carriages together. Astre had fallen asleep and was now just lying asleep next to Lois when Lois heard something outside. A girl with black hair and a green dress stood out on the road. When the horse-drawn carriage stopped, Astre woke up a little and began to scratch her eyes as she slowly sat up.

"What happened?" she asked Lois, who had not yet discovered she was awake, but when she tore at his arm, he quickly became aware of her and looked at her with wide eyes.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked if anyone was out there," she said and sat up and looked out the window. When she saw the little girl, she slowly got up from her seat and opened the door to the horse-drawn carriage, so that it was cold inside the carriage as it was outside. The little girl looked up at Astre with emerald green eyes. Her hair was black as coal and her dress was a green and black dress that had something that originated from the time when King George the Third was regent. The dress was also thoroughly covered with embroidered lace. Her hair was a mess and looked like something she had set up in some style but had been ruined after running in windy weather.

"Hello," Astre said quietly, holding out her hand to the little girl. The girl hugged a small doll and looked up at the 13-year-old girl. Lois looked at Astre with astonished eyes, while Astre dragged the girl into the horse-drawn carriage. When they had sat down opposite Lois, the little girl lay down next to Astre and lay down on her lap while she closed her eyes. Lois pulled off his jacket and handed it to Astre, who greeted it with a smile and laid it over the little girl.

"Why are you so kind to strangers?" Lois asked her. Astre looked up at him and smiled at him with a questioning expression.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Lois smiled crookedly at her, after which he leaned against the wall of the horse-drawn carriage.

"You are so kind to all the people we meet. You were kind to me when I was a jerk to you and Anne. I let people spread rumors about you already the first year that was not true. During the summer holidays, there was a poor boy who wanted to steal from you, but you just took the necklace you had received from your father and gave it to the boy while you gave him a piece of bread from the stall and paid the baker with your smile. And now you're in the process of helping a girl who had run away from home. If I were king, I would have given you my crown and let you take the land and its people, ” he said. While he was talking, Astre had noticed how Lois had put his arms crossed and looked out the window with a distant glance. Astre blushed over what had just been praised about her. She had never known how good she was at doing different things.

"I do not think it was something I had noticed. Maybe it's just because I know what it's like to have nothing and that's why I give to those who have nothing ” whispered Astre and nuzzled the little girl's hair while she looked down at the body that lifted and sank. Lois became soft in his facial expression and looked at Astre and her locks that had fallen out of her ponytail. How could a girl as amazing as her be so alone in this world? Her parents had kept her away because she was ill. Why had a girl so kind and sweet to all people been shut out of her family? Lois was getting up to sit next to Astre when the carriage stopped and started driving up a high hill.

"Can you help me?" she asked Lois, pointing at the girl. Lois nodded and lifted the girl up and laid her down on Aster's lap, who had sat down next to Lois. Astre then lay down next to Lois while she held the girl. Lois looked down at the two girls and slowly lowered his head down towards Astres when he stopped and heard a murmur from Astre.

“I have led both life and earth, Your love and goodwill to have. Greensleeves was my joy, Greensleeves my heart of gold, Greensleeves was my heart of joy And who but my lady Greensleeves ”. To Lois's ear, it sounded like a song that had been sung over and over again. A song that was known throughout the noble world of England. A song that Lois had never heard. Astre mumbled on while Lois listened intently. The song became sad but sounded romantic. A song about a woman with green sleeves. Hadn't Astre told Lois a story about it?  
____________

After the horse-drawn carriage had driven up a high hill, it stopped slowly in a yard filled with cobblestones. Astre slowly got up from Lois, who had his arm around her and had fallen asleep, after which she looked down at the little girl lying in her lap. She whispered a little to her and watched as the little girl woke up quietly. Then Astre turned again towards Lois and got up, after which she leaned in towards his ear and whispered that they were at their destination. Lois slowly woke up and looked at her and blushed so hard.

"Astre!" he exclaimed, jumping a little backward as he gathered himself together. Astre tilted her head and was about to ask if Lois was okay when the girl next to her started crying. Astre quickly turned around and began to whisper to her while Lois put on her jacket and walked out the door of the horse-drawn carriage.

"Quiet now. Nothing happened, did it? I'm here, after all, ” Astre said softly to that girl and took her hand, after which they both went out the door.  
Outside it was colder than it had been when they got off the train. Astre took care of her arms while her cloak hung around the little girl. People of females and males walked around them, either cleaning the horses or taking their belongings from the horse-drawn carriages. In front of the horse-drawn carriage that Astre had been in was the horse-drawn carriage that Anne and the others had been in. Astre and the little girl walked slowly towards the horse-drawn carriage and looked into it. It was empty. Astre looked around to look for her friends, but it was only when she looked towards the entrance where two guards stood in front. They were fully armed and had rifles in their hands. As she walked past them with the little girl, they only looked a little at Astre and then directed their gaze away from them.

"Astre over here," Liam said, waving his arms. Astre took the little girl's hand and followed Liam and the others towards a hall. There were bars all around them where they were all in a beige color. When Lissa stopped, she turned around and looked at them, after which she turned around and opened two wooden doors.

"Father, mother, and Joseph" Lissa exclaimed and ran into her parents and little brother. The man who was Lord Löwenzahn got up and hugged his daughter to him. Like his daughter, he had blonde hair, but his mustache looked like a pretzel slanted. He was wearing a suit with a medallion around his neck that was made of gold. Lady Löwenzahn also got up and welcomed her daughter after her husband. She had her hair set up in a tall bun on the back of her head with two twisted tufts around her ears. She wore a white dress with a large skirt and a thin cross on the dress. Her sleeves were large and filled with a lace of a very light pink and white. The boy named Joseph was the last to hug his sister. He was wearing a white shirt with a black bow around his neck.

After Lissa had hugged her family, she started introducing her friends. First, it was Anne and Astre who quickly got a hug from her parents. They were happy that Lissa had made two such good friends. Then there was Liam who politely shook hands with all three of them. When Carlos was introduced, the gentlemen bowed while the mother curtsied and so did they when Lois was introduced.

"Are you, friends, with 2 princes?" asked her mother surprised. Lissa scratched behind her head as she looked away. While talking to the parents, Joseph had spotted the little girl behind Astre. He got up from his toy and walked over to her, after which he bowed to the girl. The girl looked at him strangely and then nodded again, but when she wanted to take a step she fell to the floor. Astre stared with wide eyes and sank down next to her as she held her close to her.

"Are you okay?" asked Lady Löwenzahn, walking quickly to the little girl. The little girl shook her head and pointed at her feet. Astre quickly tore off her boots and looked horrified at her feet. Her feet had been cut so that her feets had become so inflamed that one would no longer be able to walk with such two wounds. Astre took the little girl's hand while she silenced her crying.

"Get a maid right away," said Lady Löwenzahn, getting up as she ordered Astre to take the little girl and accompany her, but Astre could not. She was not strong enough.

"Let me," Lois said, taking the little girl in her arms, after which he followed the woman. Astre wanted to join, but Joseph held her hand. Astre turned around towards the boy and looked down at him. He had tears in his eyes, which gave Astre a little panic.

"She will probably be okay again. I promise, ” she said, turning to her friends. Liam and Carlos were a little surprised, while Anne and Lissa looked up with wide eyes at Lois, who had gone up on an indoor balcony with the woman. The man got up and escaped, after which he turned around to look at them and waved a man in a suit towards them.

“Please show my daughter and her friends their rooms. Joseph, we must have read papers together, ” he said, kissing his daughter's cheek goodbye, after which he took his son's hand. Astre watched as she smiled. Astre had never expected a family like this to be close and a lovable family, but she was wrong. Together she went with Anne and the others upstairs and went down long corridors, after which they went down several. The walls of the corridors were made of sandstone and had sharp edges by the windows. When the butler stopped, he pointed to the right and to the left.

"Left, sleep boys and right, sleep girls," he said and went his way. Astre looked at Liam and Carlos who went into each of their rooms when they had said goodnight. Astre waved and saw them close the doors behind them. Lissa turned wearily towards her and smiled.

"Good night girls," she said. Astre and Anne greeted her good night together as they watched Lissa enter her room. Astre looked towards Anne, who fumbled with her fingers on the handle into the room.

"Anne?" she asked. Anne looked up at Astre and looked at her with sad eyes as she mumbled something to herself. Astre went to her and held her arms up in front of her. Anne immediately fell into her arms and hugged Astre. She could feel Anne shaking and hear her breathing getting heavier and heavier.

"Anne, what's wrong?" she asked her friend as they sat down on the floor. Anne had sat close to Astre as she sobbed silently.

"Why… does… he… not… want… to… look… at… me…?" She sobbed in Astre's dress. Astre sat and hummed as she stroked Anne over her hair. Anne and Liam had not looked at each other since they had entered the castle. Liam had almost pretended Anne was a ghost.

"Because you're pushing him away," Astre said softly, smiling down at Anne. Anne wiped her eyes and looked up at Astre stroking her cheek.

"Really?". Astre nodded and kissed Anne on the forehead.

"Try not to push him away tomorrow"

"...Okay," said Anne and got up from Astre and went in the door to her room. She mumbled goodnight before closing the door. When the door closed, Astre exhaled slowly, after which she sighed.

"What a night huh?" said Lois over her. Astre looked up and smiled at him as she accepted the hand he had offered.

"Yes, you don’t say. How is the girl? ” she asked him. Lois smiled and kissed her hand, after which he swung her around.

"She is fine. She was a little nervous, but I promised her she would see you tomorrow, ” he said, kissing Astre's hand again.

“Sleep well my dove. Let your dreams be sweet ”. Lois turned around and walked in the door opposite them, after which he winked at her and opened the door. Astre winked again and then turned around to walk in the door of her room.


	22. The night before Christmas

Astre had not slept longer than 3 hours before she woke up from a scream. The scream she had heard was so loud that she had ended up falling out of her bed. Outside it was still dark and she could glimpse between the dark clouds, the stars shining and flashing down to her. Astre opened the windows and could feel the cold wind blowing into her face. The smell of snow, trees, and the fresh air blew into her nose as a gust of wind came in through the windows, playing with her hair.

"Astre!". Someone pushed the door up to the room she was standing in. Astre turned and looked at Lois, who was standing with a worried expression on his face. His face was hot and his breathing was hard and fast. Astre let go of her hold on the window sill as she turned to face Lois.

"Are you okay?!" she asked him as he walked towards her. He put his hands on her cheeks. Astre could feel that they were shaking and frightened by something, but what?

"I heard a scream," he said briefly and looked into Astre's eyes as if he was looking for something. Astre looked worriedly into his and did not really search for anything, but had begun to worry about him. She slowly took his hands away from her cheeks and guided him to the bed, after which she sat down next to him.

“Lois, you need to relax. I heard that too, but we can’t panic about such a thing, can we? ” she assured him, watching the panic in Lois' eyes begin to subside. He nodded so quietly, after which he got up from the bed and went to the door and opened it. Astre followed him with her gaze and got up, after which she threw a shawl around her shoulders.

Astre was wearing her nightgown. It was white and consisted of fringes at the bottom of the skirt and was adorned with lace at the sleeves. Her hair hung loosely around her shoulders and in her hair, she had a small hairband. She had nothing on her feet and was therefore barefoot.  
Lois was wearing a white pajama jacket and trousers. There were patterns of gold around the corners of his pockets. His hair was not set and looked like something he had nuzzled his hand through. He wore black knee socks on his feet.

When Astre went to him, he stopped her. Astre put himself in a defensive mode and was about to say something to him as he held up his hand to stop her from scolding him over what was about to come out of her mouth. That was probably the smartest thing to do. From the corner where they stood and hid, they could hear 2 people talking together. Astre leaned over Lois and looked at the two figures talking.

"If we want to implement the plan today, then it must be now," said a male voice. The other figure shook his head and stopped the person with his arm.

"There has already been a scream. How many servants do you want to kill? ” asked a woman voice. The man pondered and turned away from the woman. Astre and Lois looked at each other and looked at the figures again. Windows were shining the dim light of the moon and all the torches that had been hung up on the walls had been extinguished.

"But what do we do with her? She has to go away at some point. I refuse to be stopped again," said the man and went out into the moonlight. Astre stared with wide eyes at the man. He had black shiny hair that had a dime. The mustache was straight and thick, but also black. The man, however, had put on some weight according to Astre.

"What is he doing here?" whispered Astre, looking annoyed in his direction. Lois looked up at her with a questioning expression. Astre shook her head angrily and rubbed her cheeks. She leaned away from the corner and up against the wall while Lois followed suit.

"He's my father's friend, Baron Diedrich, but what I can not understand is that he is here instead of planning meetings with my father and his underworld group." Astre crossed her arms and shook her head annoyed. Diedrich and Astre had met each other a few times but had always ended up with Astre going away because he always told her she was never good enough.

"Either way, they're planning to break into a girl's room, and I'm afraid it's one of our friends' rooms," Lois said, keeping an eye on the two people. Astre smiled quickly as a plan began to unfold in her brain. She quickly whispered the plan to Lois and did not really expect him to agree to it, but he just shrugged.

"If it works, you'll pull your curtains, but if they stay open, I'll run up there right away, understand?" he whispered back. Astre saluted and kissed him on the cheek.

"I can do it, believe me. And remember to look after the little girl too ”she said and ran into the room where she had come from.  
____________

Astre sat down on the bed and started counting from zero in Spanish as her door swung open. Astre slowly turned her gaze around and looked at a young man. He was wearing a black hat with a black cloak around his shoulders. In the right was there a knife pointed towards Astre.

"As soon as you move a little, you will get it through your heart, understood?". Astre got up from the bed and leaned up against the wall on the opposite of the boy and sending him a glance that told him that he could try. Behind the young man came a girl in. She wore a white dress with white roses as her skirt. She wore a wig made of roses and two feathers on her head. Her eyes were blue and had white eyelashes. She smiled big as she looked towards Astre and curtsied to her. Astre just nodded but did not let the young man out of her sight.

"Astre Phantomhive, right?" was there a third voice saying. Astre let her gaze run around the room to see someone talking, but there was no one.

"A blue dove sitting lost behind the window of her birdcage, waiting for anyone to help her get out of it. What a story! What a dramatic start and end! ”. Astre pushed herself away from the wall with her foot and looked at the man behind the two people.

"But do not be sad anymore. We can take you to a place where you will be more grateful ”. A man came walking in the door. He had orange bristly hair with violet eyes. The clothes were several layers of clothing and had the colors yellow, gold, purple, black, lavender, and white mixed together. Too many colors for Astre's taste. He bowed to her and held one hand out to her. Astre looked at her hand with a surprised expression in her eyes. The hand was made of bone.

"And you're…?" she said questioningly, turning away from her hand, after which she sat down on the end of the bed. The man looked surprised as she had refused his hand but laughed at his mistake.

“Me or them?”

"You". Astre was not in the mood for this play. She was still tired of what had happened before and wondered a lot about where that girl's scream had come from.

"I'm Joker. The best Joker you can find in this world ”. He bowed to her and gave her a bouquet he had conjured up from his wand. Astre nodded but did not look wildly excited. 

"The young man in the black cloak is Dagger, and this beautiful girl is Doll." Dagger took off his cloak and showed his face. He had sea-green eyes with blond hair even though some of his hair was black. He was wearing a black and white striped shirt with a white vest over it. On his legs, wore he black trousers with a black skirt. Doll nodded nicely to Astre as she smiled. There was something about her that gave Astre peace of mind, but she had learned that she should not trust that feeling.

"Yes, yes it's all well, but why did you come here? You speak fluent English, so what are you doing here in Austria? ”. If Astre were to be completely honest then she had expected to see Diedrich come in the door. This was not part of her plan, but she could not show that to them. She just had to come up with a new plan.

"To find you," the joker said briefly. Astre frowned and looked at Dagger and Doll, where one nodded wildly and the other put his arms crossed. Astre snorted and got up from the bed and walked past the joker and towards Doll.

"You are very adorable." Doll blushed and put her hands on her cheeks.

"And you are very cute." Dagger lost his arms and looked angrily at her. Astre just smiled at him and went to the joker who was still holding the bouquet of flowers. She took it from him and smelled the flowers.

"However, even if I wanted to be with you, I can not. I am Lady Phantomhive and I have a reputation to maintain, ” she said, nodding to them.

They looked at each other disappointed, but Astre reached long before 8 shots were fired at the room. Quickly, Astre threw herself over Joker and silenced him as he complained about the bump on the floor. Dagger was about to get up from the floor as he looked towards Astre, who had quickly pulled him down to the floor. Astre glanced at Doll, who was lying on the floor, looking shakily at her. Slowly, Astre motioned to her to be quiet as she slowly crawled past Dagger and toward the door. She leaned down to the crack under the door and counted 1… 2… 3… 4… 5 men. Slowly she eased to her feet and looked at the other three.

‘Over there’ she shaped with her mouth and pointed to the secret door next to the cupboard. Joker looked at her incomprehensibly, but Dagger quickly understood. He got up silently from the floor and went to the door and pushed to it with a small push. Astre sighed lightly and nodded towards the door of the other two. Joker thanked silently as Doll walked over to her.

"Don’t you want to come?" she asked whispering. Astre shook her head and told her that it would be too stupid not to have one left. Doll nodded understandingly and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thank you for this". Astre smiled at her as she watched Doll slip out the door.

When they were out of sight, Astre pushed herself away from the door and leaned back against the wall, where no shots had been fired at her. The door was kicked open and landed in front of her by a few inches. Diedrich came in through the door.  
____________

“What a surprise Diedrich. Do you do this often? ” she asked him, nodding toward the door. The baron clicked his tongue and looked away from her as he searched for something. The men behind him stood guard at her door.

"Where is she?" he asked, tearing the duvet off the bed. Astre crossed her arms and watched as he kept tearing everything apart.

“Who?”.

"Astre Phantomhive". He answered her briefly, but when he discovered the words coming out of his mouth he quickly turned around towards her. He pointed at her with his thick index finger. His eyebrows were almost completely down in his eyes as he stood in front of her. Astre just smiled as she watched the overweight man trying to tell her something.

"And what can she do for you or rather I". Diedrich commanded a chair to himself and sat on it when it arrived at once. Astre remained standing. Her mother had always told her that when men sat down on a chair it was because they wanted to tell that they were the strong one, but if the woman remained standing then they were the strong one in the conversation.

"You have become more courageous since you were little, but do not think I will back out. You have something I want ”. He put his arms crossed as he leaned back. Astre looked at him, after which she yawned loudly.

“You want something from me? What would you want other than childhood trauma and other depressing things, ”she said inquisitively, looking into his blue-green eyes. There was a touch of uncertainty, but Astre's peacock blue eyes were stone cold.

"Your father gave you a present when you were little, where is it?" he said. Astre should not have laughed, but she did. She laughed as loud as she could and looked at the men standing next to the baron who had lost his mouth when she started laughing. Diedrich got angry and got up from the chair, which fell backward and landed on the floor with a hard bump. He shouted and screamed at her that he demanded to know why she was laughing, but she did not listen and wiped a false tear away from her cheek.

"Ohh how funny you are, hehe, but no I have no gift from my father and you want to know why?". She stood in front of the baron with a cold and lifeless look.

"I never received a gift from my father. In other words… I'm not the one you're looking for, but then again I'm just a girl who has a task that is not to get gifts, right? Have you tried my brother? ” she asked him, sitting down in the chair that had landed on the floor. The baron turned around and looked at her angrily and furiously.

"I will get that gift one way or the other!" he shouted, storming out the door with his guards. Astre exhaled and smiled out the window, after which she drew the curtains.


	23. Maybe never?

When the sun came up in the sky, it had finally become Christmas. Astre sat up from her bed while she rubbed her eyes and hummed to herself. The curtains covered the sun shining against her curtains. Astre slowly swung her legs over the edge of the bed and landed with a soft bump on the floor with her feet. As she walked toward her coffin, she stretched her entire body and ran her fingers through the blue-black hair that shone silver in the sun's rays that came between the cracks in the curtains. When she opened her coffin, she looked down at a new pink dress that had been sent to her from England.

"Seriously?" she asked aloud as she sat down on her bed while sitting with the dress between her hands. Why had she only gotten pink dresses from her family? Did they really still think she was the little girl who only smiled in her family's presence? Ughh they were just too much, how could they be so soulless and think she will be the same as she was before she got her illness. She was not perfect and they knew it, but they chose to ignore that part of her. She tossed the dress aside hard and sat down sadly on the floor next to the coffin. For a long time, she sat and listened to the birds singing outside. It reminded her of the time when she was little. Sitting alone in the room and only have the birds singing as the only conversation you heard.

"Astre?". She looked up from her arms and toward the door where Lissa was standing. Astre smiled at her and lined up to seem real.

"Good morning Lissa… what brings you here?" she asked her as she tried to wipe her cheeks. Lissa walked slowly towards her and ran her fingers over Astre's face.

"Are you okay? I heard what had happened to you inside the room here. Do you need anything?". Astre just smiled at Lissa and shook her head, after which she picked up the pink dress and sighed at it.

"If you could make pink a different color then it would be nice". Lissa quietly began to laugh and shook her head at how stupid the dress looked, prompting Astre to join in and start laughing. They both laughed at the dress while running their fingers through their hair or just laying them on their stomachs. After they had finished laughing, Lissa took her arm and dragged her out of the room with her. When Lissa had entered the room, Astre had not noticed what Lissa looked like, but when she looked closer, she could see how beautiful Lissa really was.

Lissa wore a dark green dress that was shaped by the fact that she wore long-sleeved sleeves, but with puff sleeves at her shoulders. The skirt went down to her ankles and as patterns on her entire dress, she wore something reminiscent of laurels and leaves. Her blonde hair was set up in several braids that twisted around each other and eventually formed a heart. In the center of the heart was fastened a buckle reminiscent of a bay leaf. On her feet, she wore small brown ballerina shoes with white tights underneath. On her hands, she wore dark green gloves with a white bracelet.

As the girls walked down the hall, servants walked around them, cleaning the various surfaces. Some had made sure to put Euphorbia pulcherrima, or the poinsettia as it was called in other places, in jars around the hallway. Outside, the whole landscape was covered in snow and the sun's rays were shining on it. Astre smiled at how the contrasts between, hot and cold lay over a single place. Suddenly Lissa stopped as they walked so Astre came to bump into her, but it did not appear that she had discovered it when she opened the door next to them and pulled Astre with her.

"Where are we?" asked Astre, looking around the room. Shelves after shelves were covered with clothes that seemed to have all colors other than pink, which pleased Astre very much. Lissa smiled and started searching the various shelves, lifting something away from the shelf, and then putting something back.

“This is our clothing room for guests. If our guests do not have more clothes or simply do not like the clothes they have with them, then we have a room for all those things ”. Astre nodded understandingly. It was very convenient to have such a thing when you got strangers visiting, or just had something you could give to a guest who had spilled something over himself. How many times had her father not come home with a red spot on his jacket because he had either spilled something on it or some of his comrades had been too drunk to be able to stand any longer? After some time, Astre could finally hear someone being pleased with what she had found.

"What about this one," Lissa said, holding up a dress in front of her. Astre turned around and looked at it, after which she smiled. It was just the kind of person she wanted to wear for a day like this. She nodded and accepted it from Lissa and went to change clothes. When she had changed, Lissa asked her to sit down in front of her, on the chair. After Astre had sat down, Lissa began to brush through her hair while letting her fingers touch lightly and elegantly on the scalp. After some time, Lissa had brushed through Astre's hair and put something on her head.

"Like that," she said and walked away from Aste. Astre got up from the chair and went to the mirror that stood next to them.

Astre wore a blue dress that had a top with stops that went over her shoulders and no sleeves. The skirt was shaped like a ball and was blue with fringes that went all the way down to her knees. Around her belly, she had been wearing a belt that had a bow in the middle of the belt. Her hair was loose and hung around her shoulders, while on her head she had a hairband that was put in her hair and had lace that was shaped like a flower. On her arms, she wore long gloves that went all the way up to her elbows. Around her neck, she had a blue bow tied around and on her right index finger, she had the blue diamond ring. In the mirror image, she looked like the girl she had always imagined. A girl who was in dark colors and showed the feeling she had inside her.

"Wow," she said to herself as she looked up and down at herself. Lissa stood next to her and smiled at her as she tilted her toes.

"You look wonderful. Should we go?". Lissa held out her hand to her. Astre received it and followed Lissa down the hall where they had met Lissa's parents for the first time. As they walked, Astre looked down at her feet and saw how the low black high heels she was wearing at school fit well together. Maybe it was not so bad to have one's girlfriend to help find clothes.  
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Down in the hall where they had first been, Lord and Lady Löwenzahn stood talking to each other while their son, Joseph, and the little girl played with Carlos and Liam. Lois and Anne stood talking to each other while laughing. Lissa smiled at Astre and ran to her parents, after which she hugged them. There was something about it that made Astre feel more and more alone. Why was her family not like this? The first of Astre's friends to come to her was Carlos. He had risen from Liam, Joseph, and the little girl and gone to Astre when Lissa had replaced him. Astre had stayed a little away from the others while she stood looking at them. Something probably never changed.

Carlos was dressed in a black suit with a purple vest and white shirt that complemented his olive skin very well. His pants were black and his shoes were completely polished. The curly black hair looked like something that had been tried on being tamed but had given up on.

"Hi Astre, what are you doing here?" Astre shrugged and smiled at the little girl who had picked up her name from Carlos. She waved to Astre, who waved again.

"Maybe there is just something that will never be changed. Before, I used to be alone while my family was with each other. Could it be that this is how it is for me? ” she asked, looking desperately up at Carlos as she searched for an answer. Something that told her she was not alone. Carlos put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head as he smiled at her. It was a smile she had missed getting. A smile that showed family love.

"I'm here. Lois, Liam, Anne, Lissa yes even the little girl is here. We will not leave you again, ” he assured her. Astre began to shake while she could feel some of her crush. The cold heart she had created for herself, perhaps. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she ended up hugging herself quickly into Carlos as she sobbed quietly towards him. Carlos silenced her softly as he ran his hands down her head. Slowly, Astre stopped sobbing and had become quiet instead. As she pushed herself out of his grip, she wiped her eyes and smiled up at him, after which she turned to the little girl who had walked over to her.

"Hi… have you slept well, ehh…" she said quietly and caressed the little girl's head.

"Sieglinde Sullivan," she said quickly. Astre closed her eyes and looked at Lois, who had stopped talking to Anne when he had also heard her name. Astre quickly looked at the little girl and smiled at her, after which she held out her hand to her.

"How good it is to meet you Sieglinde". Sieglinde smiled and took her hand, after which she dragged Astre with her to Joseph and Lissa.

Both Joseph and Sieglinde had clothes that matched each other except that Sieglinde was wearing a dress while Joseph was wearing pants. Joseph was wearing a long-sleeved dark green shirt with a white bow around his neck at the collar. His trousers were black with three white buttons at his ankles and as a shoe, he wore black shiny flat shoes with laces that formed two small loops. He, on the other hand, did not wear any gloves, but on his head, he wore a dark green hat shaped like a plate.

Sieglinde had had her hair cut and had now got bangs with hair that went down to her shoulders. In the hair, there were two dark green bows around the ears. Her dress was shaped like Astre’s, but instead of a lot of fringes, she wore a whole simple white dress with a fabric belt around her waist. The sleeves were short and around the puffed sleeves at the shoulders, she had dark green bows. On her feet, she wore brown shoes that had a band over so they stuck to her feet.

The rest of the morning they spent talking and laughing with each other. When the tree was brought in, it was about noon. Lissa told the others how they covered their tree with various things such as lights and something that glistens, which Anne thought seemed a little too boring, but when one of the servants came in with a box full of sweets, many of the children's faces lit up even Astre’s. It was mostly chocolate, sweets, and something called "Windbäckerei" that was hung on the tree. While they were decorating the tree, Lois came to Astre and held one of the small cakes up in front of her.

Lois had something that looked like a suit. His trousers went to his knee and over the trousers, he had a shirt that was white, with a blue and gold jacket over his shirt. Around his neck, he wore a white cravat. On the rest of his legs, he had white knee-high socks and two pairs of white shoes that went to his ankles. The black hair was combed back with a comb and hair gel.

"You must try one of these," he said, stuffing one of the cakes in his mouth. Astre laughed lightly and accepted it, but did not stuff it in her mouth. Instead, she hung it on a string and set it up on the tree.

"You know they're for hanging up and not eating," she said, snatching the last cake from Lois’s nose. His mind tilted down and looked at her with a pleading look, but she stroked it off and smiled at Sieglinde, who was in the process of putting the last candle on the tree with Joseph. When Astre turned around towards Lois again he had taken one of the other sweet things and stuffed it in his mouth. Astre sighed resignedly and hung the cake up on the tree.

"You really are not in control are you?". Lois shook his head and laughed.

While the others stood and decorated the tree, Lord Löwenzahn came walking into the hall and sat down at the piano, after which he began to play the melody for "Silent Night". Lois put the last chocolates he had in hand on the table and offered his hand to Astre, who accepted it. Then he dragged her out where there was room to dance. They faced each other and took a step to the left. Then they put their right hand against each other and went further out to the left while still having their right hand touching each other. Then they went towards each other again and made that movement 3 times, after which Lois swung Astre around him. She was a little surprised by that but continued to dance that way with him. As they stood in front of each other, Astre placed her left arm on Lois’s shoulder and placed her right hand in his while he placed his right hand on her waist. Together, they turned around the hall, holding each other close as they concentrated on their feet instead of each other.

"Look into each other's eyes!" yelled Anne next to Lissa, who had stopped playing with Joseph. Liam and Carlos laughed along with Anne and Lissa when Lois and Astre complained.

"Who let Professor Violet in?" Lois asked annoyed, which made Astre laugh. He smiled teasingly at her, after which they stopped dancing when Lord Löwenzahn stopped playing the piano. The children and servants began to applaud him as he bowed to them.

“What a wonderful day it is. I'm really sorry about what happened last night, but I do not hope it will happen again, ” he said. Astre looked at Lois, who was squeezing Astre's waist. They had not yet stopped being in that dancing position when Lord Löwenzahn had stopped playing. Slowly, Astre Lois pulled into a hug as she silenced the anger that was building up inside him. After he was silenced, the clock was about to turn 18 and when the bell rang from the dining room, Astre knew it was time to eat.  
____________

The dining room was large and filled with spruce made for garlands and swung around the ceiling. And on the table were covered up to 10 people. Lord Löwenzahn sat down at the end of the table, while Lady Löwenzahn and Joseph sat down next to him on the right. On the left side of him sat Lissa down and down next to her sat Anne. Astre sat down next to Anne, while Sieglinde sat down next to her. Carlos sat down next to Joseph and got Liam on the other side of him, after which Lois sat down next to Sieglinde. The table was covered with plates that were white and had bronze edges around the plate. Up to three glasses were covered. The first for the appetizer, the second for the main menu, and the third for the dessert. In the first glass, there was water in while the other two glasses were empty.

“The first dish we should have is pumpkin soup. I think it's been a long time since you got it my girl ” Lord Löwenzahn said to his daughter. She smiled and nodded happily as she told Anne the story behind the pumpkin soup. Sieglinde sat next to Astre and was completely silent while fiddling with her dress.

"Are you okay?" Astre asked her as she laid her hand on Sieglinde's hair. She nodded but could not answer. She has still known difficulty in English even though she had been taught French by Anne, but she was not so good at it. Astre sighed and smiled at Sieglinde, after which she spoke to her in the German tongue.

"You can tell me what's wrong. I have learned your language since I was little, ”she said to Sieglinde, who opened her eyes and looked at Astre. Joseph had also picked up the German tongue that had come from Astre and smiled at her.

"How well do you speak Austrian?". Astre looked at him and shrugged as she tilted her head.

"Not so good, but I'm trying." Joseph nodded and sat down on his chair where he had risen from. Lord and Lady Löwenzahn had both whispered something when they had discovered the new at Astre. Lissa smiled big at finding out what her friend could do.

"I'm afraid. I'm afraid my village will find me, ”Sieglinde said. Astre looked up at Lois, who looked like a question mark, and threw her head toward Sieglinde. At first, he had not quite understood it, but when she again threw her head down towards Sieglinde he understood that he should cuddle the little one or at least hold around her. Lois moved with his chair closer to her and began to lean the little girl towards her. She leaned willingly along.

"I'm sure whatever your village intends to do, we're there to protect you even though we're only 13 years old," Astre assured her, stroking her hair. Sieglinde looked into her deep in her eyes and looked like someone looking for something, love perhaps. When she had found it she smiled big and nodded.

When the pumpkin soup came, Astre looked at it inquisitively. She had never tried to taste something like that, but there should always be a first time for everything. The pumpkin soup was yellow and a little orange with pumpkin seeds that lay as a garnish on top of the bowl. When Astre saw the spoon up from the soup, lumps hung down from the spoon. She and Anne exchanged a glance before they both took a bite of the soup. To be completely honest, it was not exactly what she had expected it to taste like. The soup was really dry even though it looked wet. Quickly, Astre glanced at Lord and Lady Löwenzahn talking and eating merrily of their soup.

After they had all eaten the soup or had tried it, the bowl was taken out, and in came plates filled with fried fish, potato mash, salad, and a lemon slice to pour over the fish. In the glass, white wine was poured for the adults, while water was poured for the children. It had been a long time since Astre had eaten fish, but she was fine with that. There were not many fish in the world that she liked, so it was nice of her not to get so much fish, but now that she looked at the fried fish on her plate she had a feeling she had missed getting fish. The fish was crispy to cut through and the mashed potato was soft to eat. It was comfortable for the mouth to get contrasts at the same time. The salad was filled with various vegetables which made the whole heavy feeling of the second food easier to eat.

"So Your Highness Lois, what was it like dancing with Lady Phantomhive?" asked Lady Löwenzahn, toasting to Lois. He toasted again and looked at Astre, who had stopped eating and stared down at the plate. How had he really felt about dancing with her? He was the one who invited her out on the dance floor, but he really liked it. Lois looked away from Astre and looked at Lady Löwenzahn, but did not escape the murderous smile on Anne's face. It was something Lois was impressed with. Anne and Astre protected each other no matter what. Astre with her words while Anne used her actions.

"She was like dancing with like a swan swimming around on the lake. There were no problems dancing with her around the hall. She has learned a lot in our dance lessons and from home ”. After answering, he winked at Astre who seemed unable to hold out all that praise. Her face was completely red and it seemed as if tears were coming out of her eyes. Lady Löwenzahn nodded understandingly and raised her glass to Astre to toast to her, but Astre was completely gone, so Anne ended up toasting with her instead. Praise… when was the last time she had it. Was it then she had spoken Spanish with Lois or was it when she sang loudly for the first time since she was 10 years old.

"Excuse me," she said quietly and got up from the table, after which she walked out of the hall. Tears fell down her cheeks, but they were not sad. They were happy, but as her mother said, one never cries when others are present. Anne had quickly got up from the table and followed her, but long before she saw Astre she had to stand up against the wall into the dining room.

"Hey…" Anne said, placing her hands on her cheeks. Astre looked up into her green eyes, she smiled and grabbed Anne's wrist.

"I'm alright. * sniff * I just need to make sure I take care of myself. I have never received praise from my parents, so when I get praise, my feelings can get too much, ” she said as she sniffed. Anne laughed and sat down, with Astre, on the floor, while she silenced her softly and laughed.

"You are really hopeless." They both laughed while sitting on the floor. Astre would never return to England if this was what she got as a family. She would never return to the cold clammy fingers that lay over her family and England.  
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After eating the rest of their main course, some of them left the table while others stayed at the dining table. Astre, Lois, Liam, and Anne left the table while Carlos played with Joseph and talked to Lissa when she wanted to talk. Astre had gone up to the room and found her cloak rather than go outside, but when she was about to go out the door, Lois stopped her. He stood leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.

"Where are you going?" he asked her. Astre got up from the floor where her coffin had stood and swung her cloak around her shoulders and closed the button around her neck. Without answering him, she walked past him and was about to walk out the door when he stopped her.

"I asked where you were going. Outside? I hardly think so ”. Then she had had enough. Yes, she had been kept inside all her life, but when she was free of her family's hands, she would decide for herself what the bloody hell she wanted to do with her life. If she wanted to go out and feel the cold against her skin then it had to be like that. She looked at him with a hatred that no one else had seen except her mirror image. Lois went a little backward when Astre took a step towards him.

"I'm so tired of being in here. Just for 5 minutes I want to smell the trees, the snow, and the rest of Austria in my nose. If you do not trust me, then you can just come along, right? ”. Lois stood contemplating it before nodding. Astre smiled big and thanked him more times than necessary. When Lois had gotten ready, they both went out to the yard and stood in the middle of it while snowflakes fell against their faces. The height of the snow had already reached all the way up to their ankles and around them, the footprints they had made had begun to disappear. Astre smiled big at Lois as she ran around in the snow to grab snowflakes. Even though she was 13 years old, she still felt as if she was little. She loved playing in the snow with Ciel when they were little, even though she had asthma, but now… now she did not care about that part of herself. She could be allowed to play as she pleased. The sky was completely dark and not a single star shone from the surface of the sky, but Astre and Lois knew very well that the clouds covered it.

"I have never seen you so happy," Lois said and smiled as Astre came running to him with a small snow figure in her hand. It formed a heart with a small rose or at least a flower. Lois took it and laid it down on one of the boxes next to him. Astre shrugged and ran on around in the snow while laughing at him.

"If I can get outside, you will see more of this smile," she said. After a short while, it had started to get cold. Astre froze wildly and wished she could stay out longer, but Lois said that was enough. There was no reason for her to get a cold in another country if she wanted to go out and live life. Together they went in towards the door and closed it tightly as the wind began to whistle towards them. When they had closed the door, they came walking towards the stairs to take off their robes, but they were only halfway when they heard someone standing and shouting at each other.

“Why are you like this? Can't you see I just want to talk to you ?! ”. Astre looked at Lois, who, like her, was surprised by the shout. They both turned around and looked up at the balcony where Anne and Liam were standing. It was Anne who had shouted at Liam. Liam turned around and looked at her with pleading eyes, but with a hard facial expression.

"Now you want to talk to me. I thought you would just ignore me like you have done the many days since we started school. You did not talk to me you did not make me smile at you. What in the world had you expected to happen? ” he shouted at her again. Astre nodded to Lois and went upstairs with him to Liam and Anne. Anne was about to shout something again when Astre came running over and stopped her.

"Okay, so I think we have shouted enough of each other today. Anne, will you go with me down the hall here to my room, while Liam will go with Lois? ”Said Astre and stopped Anne from shouting more. Lois looked at Astre and nodded briefly. Even though they were friends, they had to learn to get along even though they had been a little absent from each other. Astre sighed slowly as she and Anne walked down the hall. Astre had her cloak wrapped around her arms, while Anne had her arms crossed. This fight had not been a good one.

When they entered the room, Astre put her cloak on the coffin and looked incomprehensibly at Anne, who was sitting on the edge of the bed. Anne's hands ran through her hair as she sighed deeply. Anne had had a braid in her hair, but it had been ruined by evening and the red long-sleeved dress with the white lace had been covered by her now long brown hair. As Astre sat down next to Anne, Anne laid her head down on her lap and began to shake while she silently began to cry. The silence was not broken while Astre stroked Anne's hair. It was only when Astre said some of the quiet silence was broken.

"Will you tell me what the fight was about, even though I can guess what it was about." Anne sniffed and nodded, but remained in Astre's lap.

"Liam and I went from the dining room table with you and Lois, but instead of doing something together, I went to my room to write a letter to my mother, but when he knocked, I quickly became silent. I would not let myself be glued to Liam as I had been told by other girls at our school that I did, so I stayed away when he came in to talk to me, but when I did not answer him, he became angry and turned his way and walked, which made me angry and ran after him to find out why he was angry, but… I can see why now. I have stayed away too much have I not? ”. Astre nodded as she ran her fingers through her hair to braid it together into the braid it once had been. Anne began to cry loudly and turned around and lay down towards Astre who was sitting and cuddling her while she hummed.

"You just thought you were doing what you thought was best, right?". Anne nodded and wiped her nose into the pink dress that Astre gladly offered her. Anne was about to apologize, but Astre just smiled and hugged her to him.

"It's okay now, and if I'm not mistaken, there are two young guys behind that door over there," she said and went to open it. And there did. Lois and Liam had heard it all. Anne became completely silent and stared into Liam's blue eyes. Astre invited the two boys into the room and leaned up against the door as Liam walked over to Anne. He squatted down in front of her and wiped her cheeks. Lois stood next to Astre and pushed to her shoulder.

"Promise me that when you fall for me, you'll say it straight, right? Nothing about hiding”. Astre let go of a chuckle and looked up at Lois.

"Isn't it the other way around?" Lois looked at her in surprise with a smile on her face. Then, overreacting, he placed his hand on her chest and looked as if she had said something that was a lie. But as he stood thinking about it, he tilted his head a little and then nodded.

"Yes, you're probably right." Astre laughed and smiled up at him. They both looked at Anne and Liam, who were now holding each other and seemed to want to sit in silence, so Astre tore Lois's arm and went with him out the door, closing it behind her.

"Shall we have dessert?" she asked him. He nodded and said it quickly to the other two before he and Astre ran down to the dining room.  
____________

The dessert was something completely different from what they had been given before as food. The dessert consisted of a chocolate and apricot cake with whipped cream next to it. On the chocolate cake, they got a chocolate figure. The figure of Anne, Liam, and Lois represented a heart, while Carlos represented a crown. The figure of Lady Löwenzahn, Lord Löwenzahn, Joseph and Lissa represented a violin, while Astre’s represented a rose. Sieglinde had a symbol that looked like something out of a wolf, which she looked very scared of. Astre quickly changed their symbols when Sieglinde looked again. She smiled gratefully at her as Astre just winked at her.

As for their drinks, they got mulled wine, but only the adults got with cinnamon sticks in. The others got something similar but without cinnamon sticks. Astre wondered if there was a difference between drinking, but when she saw that the adults nodded happily, she just shrugged and started eating the cake. Unlike the other food, the cake was quickly eaten by everyone. Together they went with their glass into the hall where the tree stood and sat down on the floor or in the chairs there were. Astre stood looking at the tree that was lit up with a golden color. Gifts were placed under the tree and looked beautiful. Lois sat with Carlos and Liam, while Lissa and Anne sat down next to Joseph. Lord Löwenzahn walked towards the piano and began to play the same melody as he had done before, but this time Astre and Lois did not dance. Liam, Anne, Carlos, and Lissa danced around the hall as they had rehearsed at school, while Lois and Astre had had the pleasure of dancing with Joseph and Sieglinde. When Astre and Lois came past each other, they laughed at each other, after which they continued dancing.

When they had all danced, Astre sat down at the piano, where Lord Löwenzahn had sat, and began to play the melody to "God rest ye merry, gentlemen". Lois had put Sieglinde down as he looked at her in amazement. Both Carlos and Lissa stopped dancing and watched their girlfriend play flawlessly. Anne and Liam hugged each other as they looked at her and hummed along to the tune. But if you could listen well, you could hear Astre singing very quietly along to the song. This was the first time she had ever played for her friends or anything else for that matter. Only Professor Rouge knew of her secret about how good she was at playing the piano. As the last notes were coming at the end of the road, she stopped slower and slower and looked up at her friends who were all standing and clapping at her. Anne ran to her and hugged her tightly, while she asked questions about how long she had been able to, while Astre cut her off and smiled at her.

"Every time you have lessons with Professor Jaune, I have lessons with Professor Rouge, where I learn to play the piano" she simply replied, but there was more than just playing in the teaching hours they had together. After they all praised her, they started opening up presents.

Anne got a bracelet with the colors yellow, blue, red, purple, and green from Astre and Lissa. From Lois and Carlos, she had gotten a pair of expensive earrings and from Liam, she had gotten a gold ring with a green diamond, which she stared at for a long time after she had taken it on her finger. Anne had been given, by her parents, a too-small light green dress, which she ended up giving to Sieglinde, who had only received a bracelet and a hat from Lady Löwenzahn.

Lois had received from Lissa and Anne a pair of shoes that would give him a royal status when he was at a ball or another party at his castle. From Carlos, he had received a gold necklace that could go from his shoulders and down, while from Liam he had received a headband with a gold mark on it. Liam had said it was for when he was tired of walking around with the crown on his head, which the others had thought was a lot of fun, so Lois ended up putting it on. From Astre he had received a medallion with a purple rose. Lois had asked why, but Astre just shrugged. From his parents, he had received an even more expensive cloak with gold embroidery around the edge

Lissa had received a beautiful silver necklace with a yellow diamond from Astre and Anne. Carlos had given her a new dress, which she immediately loved, while Lois and Liam had given her earrings, which were also silver with yellow diamonds.

Carlos, in turn, had received a history book from Astre. He had looked at her questioningly, but she simply replied that he needed one when he became king. He could not see the fun in that, but Lord and Lady Löwenzahn did. Liam had given him some gear for his sword, while Lois had given him a new sword. Anne had given him a perfume, while Lissa had given him a new suit. His parents had given him a new sword too, but he ended up giving it to Joseph, who was very happy about it.

Liam had gotten new gear for his horse from Carlos, while he had gotten a pair of new boots from Lois. Lissa had given him a new index finger ring with a green diamond and two blue diamonds around it. From Anne and Astre he had received a new gold necklace and a book, but he did not know who had given him what. His parents had given him a plant that had long since died, but he said it was the thought that spoke.

Astre had gotten a new dress from Lissa. It was a blue dress adorned with silver doves flying around the dress and black lace on the sleeves and layers laid on the skirt. From Anne, she had received a new hairband with blue pearls on a string, for which she was very grateful. Carlos had given her a hat that had black and blue lace sticking out of it, while Liam had given her a cane. Lois had given a necklace with a blue heart that was half broken but with a crown around it. She smiled gratefully at him. The last package was from her parents. She sighed and sincerely hoped not that it was another pink dress, which this time it was not, but one…

"Wedding dress ?!". Yep, it was a wedding dress. She sighed loudly and laid her head down on the dress while laughing resignedly. Why had she gotten a wedding dress? Anne sat with big eyes on the dress while Lissa was just silent. Lois could not think while Carlos blinked a few times. Liam sat and talked over and over again to make sure he was awake. And that he was.

"What do you need a wedding dress for?" Anne asked indignantly, looking at the dress in horror. Astre got up and looked at her as she laughed and shrugged. Sieglinde crawled to the dress and held it up over her head while trying to find head and tail.

"It's bigger than I expected," said Astre and accepted the dress from Sieglinde. Then Astre turned around and held it a little out for Lady Löwenzahn. The dress was almost as tall as her. Why had they given her a dress she could not wear anyway?

"So… was there something about us getting married, Lois?" she asked teasingly. Lois turned completely red and looked surprised at her. The others laughed big at his facial expression and when Astre looked up from her dress she looked at Lois who blushed big time. She dropped the dress and began waving her arms while she herself began to blush like a fool.

"That's not what I meant, I meant that… uh… I meant” she tried to protect herself, but Lois was completely gone in her blush.

"You can give me that wedding dress for the near future when you get married, or… I can make it for a smaller version". Astre stood and considered the possibilities and then looked at Sieglinde, who was sitting with her new dress, bracelet, and hat.

"Can you make it into a dress that you would wear for everyday use for girls at Sieglinde's age?" asked Lady Dandelion. She nodded understandingly and immediately began measuring Sieglinde. Lois smiled in the background as he watched the little girl follow after the woman. Anne shook her head and put her arm around Astre. Lissa looked up at Astre and got up quickly. Astre shook, but not with joy this time. Sadness, loneliness, and the feeling of being pushed away overwhelmed her. She had to leave.

"Good night. I have to retire, ” she said, taking her things up to the room. As she closed the door behind her, she carefully placed her presents in the coffin and collapsed on the floor. The dress had come with a note that she had read a few words, but she knew what they meant. '' Do not come home. Stay away if that's what you want. " It was for this reason that she had chosen to stay away from her family during the holidays, but this time they had sent a wedding dress that showed signs that they would not want her back ever again. Why was she always the one who shamed her family?

The thoughts, feelings, and tears began to tire her, and eventually, she fell asleep directly on the floor.


	24. No, not all friends survive

The rest of the Christmas holidays went fast with the various things they did. On the morning of New Year's Day, they had all gone to the Austrian capital, Vienna, and taken in to hear the world-famous classical music concert, "New Year's Concert". It was beautiful and enchanting to be inside the concert hall of the Wiener Musikverein. Astre enjoyed every piece of music that was played. Sometimes when she was so enchanted by it, she would lean over the railing to get closer to the music, but Lois always took her hand and pulled her back while smiling at her. As they were about to return to the train, Astre had to say goodbye to Sieglinde and kiss her on the forehead while assuring her that they would see each other again.

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But the Christmas holidays came to an end and soon they were going back. Time passed quickly with the two months that came and when it had become Valentine's day. Many of the couples at school walked around talking and maybe kissing a little in front of all those who did not have a partner. Liam and Anne had given each other presents and spent most of the day together. Lois, Carlos, and Lissa had been too busy reading up for their upcoming exams while Astre walked around the castle and watched the various couples waving to her as she passed by. She always waved again.

When Astre entered her room, it was completely quiet. Anne had not been in their room since this morning, giving Astre the silence she needed. Letters since October lay on her desk. Letters that had not been opened that is. Slowly with heavy steps she walked over and opened one of them. It was from her "fiancé". He had sent several letters with commands and prayers about whether or not Astre would come home soon, but she just sighed when she got to the last letter. A letter she would never, ever, think she would get.

_Dear Lady Astre Phantomhive._

_You've not been home since I sent you the first letter, so I'm writing off our engagement. You can marry whoever you want, but our engagement is broken._

_Lord Alois Trancy_

_(Ps: we still have an alliance with each other)._

Astre almost cried with happiness. She was no longer engaged to him. He who had made her have to stay away from other boys, but this time she could allow herself to fall in love, but… why should she? She was not in any hurry as the other girls in violet were. She was free and could decide for herself who she wanted to marry. Quickly, she got up from her chair inside the room and walked towards the door, tearing the letters she had received from Alois into the middle. She could not wait to tell the others what good news she had received, but when she had put her hand on the handle and opened the door there stood a person she wished she would never see again. Him.

"Lady Phantomhive, I have a letter for you from England. It has a royal sail, but what you do in your spare time, of course, I can not do anything about " said Enzo and stood with his back straight and a hand behind his back, while he smiled with a confident smile at her and had a straight arm to her. Astre uncertainly accepted the letter and closed the door behind him right in Enzo's face. Why had she received a letter with Queen Victoria's sail on it? When she broke the sail over, she began to read the letter.

_Dear Astre Phantomhive_

_It makes me sad to tell you that the circus that your father and brother have been hunting for has all been killed, but do not just think they have been killed because they had no meaning in being in this world. Their creator, Baron Kelvin, had evil plans for you and your brother to be taken prisoner by him and his friends to summon evil spirits. We asked him why and he just answered;_

_"I want to be special, so I can feel the beautiful flower and the blue dove". We, therefore, knew he was talking about you and your brother. When the kids from the circus tried to attack the Phantomhive mansion, we had to send men out to save your family, but your butler, Sebastian, and his friends had already attacked them. Unfortunately, they could only protect them by killing them._

_But on the other hand, I hope you enjoy your time in France. Finally, write if something exciting happens. I'm bored here in England._

_Greetings from Her Majesty, Queen Victoria of England._

Astre became ill and had to sit down when she had read the letter. She could well remember Baron Kelvin. He had been a kind man and greeted her when they had met each other at one of the parties their family had been invited to. But now that she thought about it, he had seemed a little too strange when he caught sight of her and her brother. They were just children, after all, but nausea over the reason for the man's insane gaze made Astre fall to the floor and coughed terribly. There were people out there in the world who would do anything to get fingers on her and her brother. How corrupt could someone be? The cough got worse and worse and she eventually could not see anything out of her eyes. Tears, panic, and stress were thrown over her.

"Astre!" was there someone shouting and running into the room, after which they raised her softly, but it was already too late. She could not breathe at all. Slowly the darkness began to creep over her sight and she had to fall into the darkness without grabbing the light.

____________

Astre quickly sat up and coughed mucus out of her mouth and was about to fall off the bed when a pair of arms helped her up on the bed again. Slowly she was drawn into something that felt like heat. Human warmth made her whole body relax, but of course, the person did not need to know. Two hands stroked her down her head and silenced her as she sobbed slowly. Not a word was said between the two people and Astre was fine with that. When the day was over, Astre opened her eyes again and looked at the figure standing next to the door. The heat had disappeared, which she was unhappy with, but again she could not just sleep with others, could she?

"Are you awake?" asked the person. Astre hummed as she slowly sat up. She was no longer dizzy, but she was not on top either. The figure came up to her and sat down next to her while they held out a plate. The first time she had said no but the person kept pushing. Eventually, she ended up accepting it and started eating some of the food. The food was vegetable soup and smelled of potato. There were small pieces of bacon in there but that was not why she liked it. She liked it because the situation reminded her of when Ciel came and gave her food when she was sick. Slowly, her fingers began to shake as she sobbed silently. The person had discovered this and took the bowl away from her hands and sat down so they could hug each other.

”Shh… you are here. It will be okay” said the person. Astre lay down in their arms, which she thought seemed a little too familiar. Suddenly it dawned on Astre who the person was and pushed herself out of their arms.

"Carlos ?!" she exclaimed in surprise, looking into his brown eyes, blinking with joy and worry. He smiled at her and pulled her into him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked questioningly. What reason did he have to be with her? Yes, they were friends, but she had never done this with Liam or Lois. Carlos just hummed and stroked his fingers through her hair. Although she would not admit it, she very much enjoyed having her hair stroked even though it was Carlos.

"I was just looking for, my blue dove." She just let out a scornful sigh and crossed her arms. Why was it always "blue dove" that came from people. She had a name you know.

"Why?".

"Because I just wanted to tell you that your Valentine is me," he said proudly. Astre looked at him, with a strange look straight into his eyes. Yes, the Reds had said something about those who did not have a partner, then they should have a Valentine partner, but Astre had always chosen to say no. It seemed that this time she had not had a choice, but luckily for her, the day was almost over.

"Wait… who is the valentine for Lois?" she asked almost panicked. Carlos just smiled at her and shrugged.

“Some girl who won the prize. He had been bored all day because he had to listen to her talk about her family and the dresses she had in her closet ”. Astre laughed and shook her head.

"Oh, how I wish I had seen it. But I do not have any gifts for you, I'm sorry, ” she said. Carlos hugged her to him and silenced her even though she was not crying.

"As long as you're alive I'm happy." Astre smiled up at him and relieved herself a little, after which she kissed him right on the forehead. In silence, they sat and looked into each other's eyes, while even though she should have seen his brown eyes she saw a pair of other brown eyes. Those she had loved so much and those she would continue to love. They sat engrossed in each other's eyes as Anne slammed the door open, causing Astre to fall backward and Carlos to retreat to himself.

"What were you two doing?" she asked them as she slammed the door behind her. Carlos and Astre exchanged glances and panicked. This was not part of the plan. It was not meant to have happened at all.

"Uhh… I have to go" said Carlos and jumped out of bed and took the bowl with him out the door. Astre slowly got up from her bed as she looked in the direction of where Carlos had just run out. She was about to run after him when Anne stopped her.

"And you're going where?". Astre pointed in the direction where Carlos had run out, but Anne shook her head and pulled her back to her bed.

"You stay here and listen. Carlos is a prince and you are a lady. We can never fall in love with them. Such is life, ” she said, crossing her arms.

"Nothing happened. Carlos and I were Valentin's partner and I had had an asthma attack, but he saved me instead of letting me die. I was enchanted in his eyes because I saw someone else's brown eyes, ”said Astre, turning away from Anne as she put on her nightgown. Anne let out a scoff and turned away from Astre.

"It was not what my eyes saw, but if you say so."


	25. Start of another summer

The days since Valentin had been a bit tight between Astre and Anne, but when Anne gave up being angry at Astre, the next 5 months got better for everyone. Liam and Anne had gotten better at talking to each other and having fun with each other. Carlos and Lois had both talked about what had happened to him and Astre, which Lois hadn’t really cared about. As they all sat in their usual place by the fountain in the garden, Lissa suddenly got up. She had thrown away all the books she and Astre had read from her and disturbed Anne's drawing of those who sat and read. Carlos and Lois had practiced sword training and had therefore placed their jackets next to the girls. Liam had been lying on the rocks next to Anne, admiring her from where he lay. When Lissa had gotten up, they all looked up at her and waited for a message or something.

"What are you going to do during the summer holidays?" she asked, sitting down again, after which Anne continued her painting. Astre looked down at her book but did not read any further. She did not know what she would do during the summer holidays. Would Anne still be on holiday with her? Or should she return to them again? Carlos swung his sword around his wrist and stood assessing into the air. Lois sharpened his sword and sat down next to Astre.

"I have to be at the palace since we have to hold all the different parties that are coming soon" he grumbled and sighed a long and deep sigh. Astre put her book down on her lap and smiled at him. Carlos had put his sword down in the sword sheath and assessed a little over the situation himself.

"Can you have 5 guests staying at your castle?" Carlos asked. Lois looked up at him and just nodded. Carlos winked at Astre as he mumbled something down his sleeve. Liam and Anne both sighed and shook their heads as Lissa crossed her arms and leaned back on the bench.

"I can not. My parents want to talk to me about something important,” said Lissa, sad that she could not be with her friends. Liam and Anne nodded at the same time over the reason they could not be with them. Lois sighed and lay back against the armrest, slamming his legs over Astre's legs, but Astre did not mind. She put her book over his legs and kept reading.

"So it will only be Astre, Lois, and I in the castle. Great, I will be the third wheel then,” he said, crossing his arms, after which he sat down on the gravel. How annoying that he and his friends could not hold anything together, but he had to bite those words again when Enzo came bouncing to them with a letter. Carlos angrily took the letter from him, but he ignored Enzo's remark that he and Lois should not be with those below them, after which Astre slammed her book together.

“So what do you do with them? Are you not just a Lord too? ”. The others started laughing while Enzo cursed her for the rest of her life. Astre simply shrugged and kept reading her book. When Enzo was gone, they could all hear Carlos sigh so deeply that one would think he was about to lose his breath. Quickly he threw the letter away and looked angry.

"Obviously I can not come either. My mom wants me home and meet my new fiancé. Why do I have to do that?" he asked the others. Astre shrugged at the same time as Lissa, who had also started to look depressed. Could that be what her family wanted to talk to her about? Lois looked at Astre who kept reading and smiled faintly when he saw how she sat with a straight back like a real royal queen. The hair was set so that the heat from her beautiful body could come out, while the necklace he had given her around her neck glistened.

"So it will only be Astre and I together in my home?" he asked. The others mumbled while Astre remained silent while smiling at him as he pushed with his right foot.

“Can’t wait”.  
____________

The last day on Un Rose Fleurie before the summer holidays, Astre went down the hall with Anne. Anne had put on a red dress, which had a belt tied around it in the color green. Astre wore the blue dress adorned with silver doves flying around the dress and black lace on the sleeves and layers laid on the skirt she had received from Lissa. They talked and enjoyed telling each other about the things they should achieve during the summer holidays. Anne had told her that she was very afraid of what her mother had to say to her. In all her letters, Anne's mother had written something about her expecting that Anne would soon have built an alliance with one of the other boys at their school, but they were no more than 13 years old. They did not have time to think about alliances to get married. Yes, they could fall for some of the boys, but otherwise not. Astre had only been in a relationship where she had been forced into an alliance, but fortunately for her, she no longer had to worry about it.

The girls walked out the entrance and down the stairs where their friends were waiting for them. Anne had quickly run down the stairs and smiled big at the others as she laughed with Lissa about something she had just said. Astre walked slowly down the stairs while looking at her friends. She had been lucky to have them as friends. They were all weird but in a good way. Yes, Anne was in love with Liam and so was he, but because they both respected their friendship, they had not said anything about it. Lois turned around and extended his hand as Astre had come down to the end of the stairs. She gladly accepted the hand and was swung around. Anne had seen it all and quickly whispered something to Lissa and Liam, who both nodded, but Astre had not noticed. Her eyes were locked in his eyes. The brown eyes were locked with the peacock-blue eyes.

"Your Highness!". There was someone shouting at them from the gate. Astre and Lois broke their eye contact and looked at a man with clothes that looked something like what a rider would wear. Lois cleared his throat and smiled at Astre, after which he led her off towards the man standing next to a car. Astre quickly hugged her friends goodbye, after which she got into the car next to Lois. When they had closed the doors, there was silence between the two friends. They sat and looked everywhere but at each other. As they drove off towards Versailles, Astre saw all the people who had no money, food, or a home to go to. It was a sight she had seen so many times in England, but you could never do anything about it since she had been pushed on. Maybe she could finally do something about it? Weren't the people more important than anything else?

The car drove up over the cobblestones and further up to where the golden fence gate was. Several soldiers stood in line in front of the fence gate and had guns to hang over their shoulders and were ready to shoot anyone who was on their way to kill anyone who would come and break into the castle. Since the Civil War, there had been many rules in relation to the royals.

Astre and Lois got out of the car and walked side by side towards the castle. Behind them, the servants carried their coffins with clothes, shoes, and other things they had chosen to take with them from school. As they walked past the guards, they simply bowed to Lois and let them walk past them. As they walked up the square, for the first time ever, Astre noticed what the castle looked like. The roofs were filled with gold on top and shone brightly in the sun's rays. But it was not only the roof that was filled with gold. Doors, windows, and balconies were filled with gold or painted in gold color. The walls were in the colors red or white. Statues hung from the wall and looked down on them as they passed. But what really impressed Astre was when they stood in front of the entrance and walked on a square filled with white and black marble in a checkered pattern, the clock that hung on top of the third floor. There was a circle of gold that looked like a leaf wreath and statues leaning counterclockwise.

“Welcome home your Highness. Good to see them again Lady Phantomhive,” said a man standing in the open doorway. Astre nodded to him while Lois simply placed his hand on the man's shoulder.

"Good to see you again Pete". Together, the two walked in through the doorway and stood in a room that, just like outside, had a floor that was patterned with black and white marble signs on the floor. Around the room, there were a total of 16 columns made out of marble. They stood in square cubes all the way around the room and looked like roads from the doorway and into another room.

"We call this room the marble vestibule," Lois whispered. Astre looked interested in the room and enjoyed that the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling that was not filled with diamonds. When they had come down to something resembling a large rectangle hallway that went from right to left, but on the side, they had come out from, there were several statues and a small staircase went down to yet another floor that had the pattern that the former. Down the ceiling in the hallway hung chandeliers but were not with diamonds. More light is trapped in cages. Lois had said something about the room being called the gallery at the bottom.

Together with Pete, they went right and right again. There they then went through three rooms before turning left, where there was a staircase going upstairs. When they got up on the first floor, they were led through a room, and then they came to a room where Pete knocked elegantly on the door with the back of his hand. There was laughter on the other side of the door, but it died quickly when the door was opened. On the other side of the door stood a man with long curly blonde hair, tucked into a ponytail with a white bow. His eyes were blue and had a flirty glow in them. His clothes consisted of a white shirt with a yellow vest. Over the shirt, he wore an open black jacket. His legs had a pair of pants that went to his knees, which were in the color light brown. Under his pants, he wore a pair of white tights that went all the way down to his feet, which were lined with a pair of black shoes.

“Ahh, your Highness Lois. It is good to see you again. Who is this beautiful lady behind them?” he asked, holding out his hand to receive Astre's hand, but after meeting a certain person, Lois stood in front of him and simply nodded to him.

Good to see you again, Francis Bonnefoy. Can my friend and I come in?”. Francis stepped aside and led them in the door, after which he sent Pete away. On the other side of the door was a completely white room. There were 2 windows on one side of the room, while on the opposite wall there was an opening into another room. In the middle of the room was a billiard table. Half of the balls were gone. There were a total of 5 men inside the room. Francis, the king, and 3 other men. The king laid down his staff and went to hug his son. Lois did not seem to like it. Francis took a sip of his wine.

“Welcome home my son. How glad I am that you would actually come home and spend the summer holidays with us,” he said in a cold voice, but when he caught sight of Astre, he suddenly realized where he was. He quickly let go of his son and went to Astre, who had been standing and watching. The king was wearing a blue jacket that went to his waist. He also wore a white shirt, but with a red vest. His pants were black and he wore white tights with a pair of black shoes. His hair was flat and black just like his son. The eyes were brown but cold. He had a black mustache with curls at each end. Astre nodded to him but did not escape Lois’ eyes as she nodded. He bowed to her and then smiled at her.

"You must be the girl I saw last year. You have truly grown more beautiful”. Francis and Lois looked at each other quickly. The king took her hand and kissed her fingers softly. Astre stood frozen to the spot, looking only at him with wide eyes. The king turned and looked at Lois and began to speak to him in Latin.

"I thought we had agreed that you should find yourself a French girl and here you bring an English offspring. Our blood should not be mixed with the scoundrels, is that understood ?!” he almost shouted at his son, while Astre had heard it all. The anger inside her boiled when she saw the king's hand rise. Francis was about to run and save Lois’ life when Astre interrupted it all.

"King Henry the 7th. I am not an English offspring and we are not scoundrels and although I can understand that you do not want us Englishmen in your French family then let me say this clearly. I am and will always be an English lady and who your son marries you have nothing to say to” she said angrily in Latin. Henry turned around and looked at her in surprise as Lois breathed a sigh of relief. Francis looked surprised at the other men around them. Astre stood with her hands set on her side while she stared at him. The king smiled and started laughing, after which he spoke to her in French again.

"You really are something, aren't you? I must admit that if your son marries you, I will only be proud of him. You are welcome in my home from now on,” he said. Astre blushed and nodded to him. Quickly she ran to Lois, who was standing by the door out of the room.

"Welcome to our home, Lady Phantomhive," Francis said, raising his glass. Astre nodded to them and followed Lois out the door.  
____________

While Astre and Lois walked down the hall, which was called the Mirror Hall, they walked in silence. None of them wanted to talk after what had just happened, but that's how they were. When they were somewhat to the end of the hall they went to the left and ended up at the Queen's ward. Lois knocked on the door and was quickly opened. The room was white but was covered with pink flowers that had been thrown on the walls. In addition to the fact that it was all framed in gold, there was an extra framing of the walls with flowers. Opposite the bed was a whole mirror that hung between the windows where one could see the garden. There was a barrier to the bed with a gold fence and on the side where the bed did not stand there were nine stools that were white and had the same pattern. Next to the bed were a few chairs.

Queen Maria the 2nd sat on the bed and talked to her ladies-in-waiting. There were a total of 6 of them and they all had the same color and dresses that were similar to each other. Their dresses were a simple beige dress with a skirt that went down to the feet and had a veil tied around the neck. On their heads, was there a hairband made out of pearls. On their feet, were they wearing high heels, that was the same color as their dress.

"Hello mom," Lois said uncertainly as he entered the room, which was filled with all the women around her. Maria quickly laid out her cards and walked over to her son, after which she put her arms around him. Lois pressed himself against his mother as he smiled down into her neck. Astre stood at the door and watched as she for the first time ever could see Lois relax. She guessed that he and his mother had a better relationship than he and his father had. When they let go of each other, Maria finally looked at Astre and smiled. She held out her hand and placed it on Astre's cheek. Astre smiled at her and had her arms close to her. 

"She is as beautiful as a doll, Lois. You must be special since my son took you home. Have you met my husband?” she asked, kissing Astre's forehead, after which she sent her ladies-in-waiting away. Astre nodded and looked at Lois, who had sat down next to his mother on one of the stools. The mother smiled big and signaled for Astre to go to them, but instead of sitting on one of the stools, Astre sat down on the floor in front of them. Maria didn't seem to mind. Lois told his mother what had happened when they met Henry, which she laughed at.

"Oh, how I wish I had been there!" she said laughing and smiling at her son. Astre fumbled with her dress and looked around. Everywhere other than looking at a mother and a child relationship she knew she would never get. 

She spent the rest of the day talking to Maria or listening to her conversations with her son or ladies-in-waiting when the king wanted to speak with Lois. She was still not strong in French but did understand most of it. For dinner, she and Lois had sat alone and eaten while laughing at something they had not talked about in a long time, but when it was time to sleep, Pete followed her off to the room where she was to sleep.

"Here is where you sleep, lady Phantomhive," he said, opening a door to the room she had slept in when she last slept in the castle. The room was white with walls that were pink. On the floor was a rug, and on the wall that was opposite the 3 windows that were, there was a bed that matched the wall. On either side of where there were doors, was there a mirror. One was covered by a closet, while the other had a dresser under it. Down from the ceiling hung a chandelier that had diamonds. Around the walls was the painting of different people.

After Pete had left the room, Astre had changed her beautiful dress with a white petticoat. Then she took off her shoes and lay down on the bed. It was strange for her to lie down in a place she was not used to, but she enjoyed it and ended up falling asleep quickly.


	26. Fresh air

The sun's rays rolled in through the windows and shone towards her as she lay on her stomach on the pink bed. Her hair was scattered around her and half of her body was covered by the duvet she was lying under. The thin but porcelain-like fingers hung over the edge of the bed and touched almost the floor. Slowly she woke up and wiped the sleep from her eyes as she slowly got up from her bed. She stretched her body in the sun's shining rays and walked towards the clothes she had lying in the coffin, but when she opened the coffin and was about to put on the dress, she stopped a bit, while holding the dress in front of her while looking into the mirror.

The dress she had lying in her arms was white with two layers. The dress itself was white with long white sleeves with pink lace at the wrist, but beyond the dress, a layer of pink lace had come over. As an accessory, there was a silk ribbon to lace around the waist.

Astre sighed and ended up putting on the dress, after which she put on a pair of white tights with the shoes that she had from school. Then she put her hair up in a braid, after which she walked towards the mirror hall which she had been told she should meet with Lois every morning, but when she came up to the mirror hall, she froze when she saw Lois standing with a rose. A blue rose. He smiled when he saw her coming out of the room where his mother was sleeping. Ever since they first met, Lois has thought that Astre was beautiful as a doll, but the pink dress really did not suit her and she knew it.

"Here. I thought you would have it before having breakfast with my parents. My father is still asleep and my mother is on her way, ” he said, handing the blue rose he had specially ordered from the gardener to Astre. Astre smiled and happily took to the blue rose that did not clash well with the pink dress. Suddenly, while the two friends were waiting, the queen came walking down the hall.

Her dress consisted of fabric that was in a beige color while embroidering flowers, just like in her room. Around the edge of her dress were sewn waves of gold and her sleeves were something of the direction of bell sleeves that also had waves of gold. Her hair was set up in a bun that had a small flower in it, but on her head, she wore a diamond tiara that formed small flowers. Behind her, her ladies-in-waiting went and seemed to be completely cold in facial expression.

The queen quickly stopped when she met Lois and Astre in the mirror hall. She looked up at Lois, who was wearing a black sweater with a pair of black pants and a pair of black shoes. Around his neck, he had a white bow tied tightly. His hair sat as always and his brown eyes looked tired. The queen nodded appreciatively and looked at Astre. As the queen led her gaze up and down her, Astre began to feel uncomfortable. She had heard that the queen should make sure they looked their best no matter what. It was important to go in the right clothes and show the world what you walked around in was just as expensive and important as the house you lived in. But no matter what, the queen ended up shaking her head and made signs that she wanted to talk to Astre alone. Lois and the other women said goodbye and went to the side so as not to disturb, though Astre really hoped Lois would stay.

"What are you wearing, Astre?" asked Maria. Astre looked up at her in surprise and was almost relieved not to hear a stern tone from a mother and a queen. Astre tore her clothes and hesitated before answering.

"It was what I had in the closet. My family always sends me clothes in this color ”. Astre held up some of her skirt even though she knew Maria could see it no matter what. Maria stood still and looked down at the girl who had not seen her family for two years. Two years without seeing one's family is a long time and therefore her family must have to start from something, but it was not good enough.

"Come. In the future, you will get more dresses from your family, but you can change them. Come before the others discover it ”. Maria quickly grabbed Astre and pushed one of the mirrors up. Behind the mirror was an entire room filled with shelves after shelves of fabric. On a large table in the middle of the room stood a sewing machine that did not appear to have been used for many years.

"If I'm not remembering wrong from the time I went to Un Rose Fleurie, then there is a room to sew, but nobody uses it. If I quickly teach you how to use a sewing machine and how to change a dress to be how you want it, then I thought you could change the dresses you would get in the future to something you would go with but we have to be quick, or we will not get food ”said Maria smiling and began teaching Astre how a sewing machine works while Astre took off her dress.

____________  
There were many things to remember, Astre would gladly admit, but it was okay. She was quick to learn and use her brain to keep sticking to what she needed to remember. After 2 hours she had changed all the pink on her dress to blue and she had even made sure to make a blue hairband for her braid. When Astre came out of the changing curtain, was she standing in front of Maria in her brand new dress. Maria smiled big at her and hugged her into her. Astre was a little surprised by that, but quickly slipped into her arms as she let the warmth of a mother's hug lie around her. After a while, Maria slowly released her and smiled at her, after which she opened the secret door again.

"You look wonderful," said Maria, walking with Astre towards the dining room. Astre had been told by Maria while they were walking towards the hall that they did not call the dining room the dining room, but the porcelain dining room. Astre had wondered why they had chosen it to be called that, but when she entered the porcelain dining room she froze and saw what the room looked like.

The porcelain dining room was white, but not so white that it hurt your eyes. Like the other rooms, the walls were framed by gold frames and had different patterns of gold on the different walls. There was a couple of small paintings that hung up the wall next to the four mirrors that were in the middle of all four walls. Opposite the wall where Astre had come from, there were two large windows that had gold frames, while there were long blue curtains drawn. The mirror was in the middle of the two windows. In the middle of the room was a table with 14 chairs in total. Three on the short sides and four on the long ones. All the chairs were white and blue. In front of all the places where one could enter, there were curtains drawn, which Astre thought was a little strange. Over the table hung a chandelier with diamonds.

At the end of the table against the fireplace, which was under one of the mirrors on the short sides, sat the king. Henry sat and talked to Lois, who was sitting on his left side even though there was a chair next to him. Maria went and sat down on the right side of the king, while Astre sat down next to Lois. Lois smiled up to her as she sat down and squeezed her hand as she laid her hands down next to her legs.

"Good morning, is it Lady Phantomhive or Astre?" said Henry, greeting her with his crystal glass. Astre took her crystal glass, which was filled with water just like Henry, and greeted again.

"Astre is fine, your majesty," she simply said. Henry nodded understandingly.

"Then just call us Maria and Henry from now on". Astre nodded understandingly and smiled at Lois, who ate his breakfast but squeezed her hand under the table.

Their breakfast consisted of pancakes that had either syrup or butter on them. In a small bowl next to their plates lay fruits of all kinds, but the Astre's related most to the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and grapes that lay in the bowl. While they sat and ate their breakfast, coffee was poured up to Maria, Henry, and Lois, while tea was poured up to Astre, but when she took a small sip of the tea, she had to put it down again and continue eating while she only drank of the water.

"I thought, now that Astre didn't get to see the rest of the palace yesterday, what do you say to show her the rest of the castle grounds today?" Maria asked her son as she had drunk a sip of her coffee. Lois looked up at his mother and then looked at his father. They exchanged a glance between them as if there was something wrong with it, which Astre guessed with the way the king sat and raised his eyebrows. Astre put her hand on Lois' arm and smiled at Maria.

"that is a wonderful idea, but it seems Lois has things to do, so maybe I could go around exploring myself, don't you think?" she asked Maria. The others sat and exchanged glances. "Unless it's not…". Astre sat back in her chair, waiting for the words she had always heard.

\- *Don't go outside*

\- *Let no one see you*

\- *Never step outside of the door*

\- *Always remember to close the door behind you*

\- *remember to lock the door behind you when you close the door to her room*

Maybe she should always be locked inside. Yes, Lois had said something about what had happened to her at school, so it only made sense that they were trying to lock her in here too. There smoked the little freedom she had. Henry then nodded and took a big sip of his water and smiled at Astre.

"Let the castle and its grounds be your new adventure, but remember to scream if something happens". Henry looked sternly at her and Astre nodded to assure him that she had understood. Finally, she was free. She could run wherever she wanted, but of course she had to stay on the castle grounds, but finally she could get out and play around in the open air.

____________  
After breakfast, Astre got up from the chair and thanked for the food and hurried to the lower gallery, and was about to run out the garden door when Lois grabbed her arm. Astre stopped in front of the door and looked at him with an inquisitive gaze.

"Promise me you'll take care of yourself," he said sternly. Astre smiled and leaned against him and kissed his nose. Slowly she hugged him into her and laid her face against his upper body.

"I'll take care of myself, Lois. I promise". She slowly pushed herself out of his grip and turned around towards the garden door and walked out of it, but sent Lois a big smile first. He just nodded and turned to the stairs he had come from. Astre sighed and closed the door behind her.

When she came out the door, she was standing in a large courtyard that had a large staircase that went all the way down to the garden. At each end of where the stairs started stood two tall marble vases that were taller than her. She went down the stairs and between the two basins that she had been standing by last year. Last year she had not noticed the statues standing around the edge of the basins, but they most resembled a woman lying down and an angel standing behind her. Astre looked up at the sky, which had become clearer from the clouds that had once been there in the morning.

Astre quickly walked past the basins and down another flight of stairs that went down to something resembling a fountain. The fountain was round and had 4 layers. Around the first layer stood gold turtles and crocodiles spitting water out of their mouths. On the second layer, people were all around, but with three frogs between them, all spitting water but only the frogs spraying water on each other. On the third layer, was there only frogs while on the fourth layer was there a statue of the Roman goddess Latona, who had her two twins Apollo and Diana around her.

"You get what you give and give what you get" Astre whispered to herself as she walked past the fountain. Many days sitting inside the reading room of the Phantomhive mansion where Astre had spent most of her days reading Roman and Greek myths.

She could clearly remember the myth of how Juno had been angry at how Jupiter had again been unfaithful to another woman who had been Latona and forbade any mortal to give Latona and her two twins Apollo and Diana hospitality. But when Latona was so thirsty after running away from Juno's anger, she ended up wanting to drink some water from a pond, but the people living around them kicked to the mud under the water and made sure no one could drink the water again, which did Latona so angry that she cursed them to be frogs immortalized.

Astre went straight ahead until she ended up at a blanket of green. She slowly took off her shoes and put her feet down on the grass. Even though Astre was wearing tights, she could still feel how the grass felt against her feet and slowly she walked down the long lawn. As she walked down the lawn, there were gardeners in different kinds of clothes looking strangely at her, but she just smiled at them as she let the fresh air fill her nostrils. She wished she could stay here forever. She would be able to go wherever she wanted and no matter what, there would never be an end to it. Maybe she would ask Lois if she could start living at his house.

Finally she came to the end of the green carpet that she had danced around herself as she walked down the grass. Her hair was no longer as straight as it had been before and the braid had gone all the way up. The white tights had turned lime green underfoot. In front of her, in the fountain that was at the end of the green lawn, was there a sculpture in the middle of the fountain where the water splashed out. From what Astre could see, it was Apollo who rode in his sun chariot with his 4 horses. From all his sides there were statues of people, perhaps angels blowing a horn out towards the audience, while there were fish or dolphins sticking their heads up, but only the angels sprayed water out.

____________  
Astre was engrossed in the golden statue and therefore did not see Lois running towards her. He threw himself over her as he put his arms around her waist. Astre was thrown out of her thoughts and blushed a little when she could feel his arms tighten around her waist so that she would not fall into the fountain, but it was too late. Astre and Lois both fell into the fountain and were completely soaked.

"Lois ?!" exclaimed Astre, startled, looking at him with a teasing stern look. Lois laughed as he took off his jacket so one could see through his white shirt. The well-trained muscles could be seen and Astre quickly glanced at all sorts of places other than him. Lois looked down at himself and smiled at Astre, who was as wet as he was.

"Do you like what you see?" he asked teasingly. Astre glanced at him to say he should be quiet, but when Lois came closer, she simply blushed and covered her mouth with her hand. Lois laughed as he tore her to him and whispered into her ear.

"What's wrong? Do you need heat? I can give you all the warmth you need ”. Astre got up with one up from the fountain and walked out of it while ignoring Lois' teasing laughter behind her. Astre's ear was completely red so it almost looked like the red berries she used to get when she was little.

"You're seriously too much Lois," she said in something that might sound like an annoying voice, but she did not feel annoyed at all. She was actually warmer and happier with what he had said. What was wrong with her? This feeling was something she had never tried to have before. Was it normal? Lois quickly got up from the fountain and came running up to her, after which he put an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm always serious. Especially when it comes to you ”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas and happy new year!!!!


	27. Billiard battle

The whole summer holiday had been like a dream for Astre. Since the day in the castle park, Astre and Lois had been together from the start of the day to the end. But the summer holidays only got shorter day by day.

The day before Astre and Lois were to leave for Un Rose Fleurie, Astre stood in the room called the Billiard Room. The king had gone hunting with his friends and therefore did not have time to be inside the room, which Astre saw as her cue to go in and check it out. The room had not changed since last time, but this time the balls were laid in a triangle except for one white ball that lay a little away from them. The light outside shone in through the windows and cast a luminous glow all over the room while the candle lights were still lit. Astre was about to take one of the sticks when she heard someone run behind her. Quickly she let go of the wand she had in her hand and turned around as she looked into a pair of familiar brown eyes.

"What are you doing?" he asked as he walked over to her. Astre smiled at him as she studied his wild hair that had not been brushed.

"I just wanted to see the room before we left. Can you play? ” said Astre distractedly, going to the sticks as she judged which stick was best for her hands. Lois smiled and took a stick next to her and held it up in front of her.

“Better than what Carlos can do. Do you want to play?". Astre smiled up to him and nodded.

____________  
They played for several hours, but not that Astre mind. She won every time, which only made Lois more frustrated. While they were playing, Pete came in and had Lois and Astres lunch served, but instead of sitting down and eating it as they had done other times because the lunch often consisted of something that you ate with cutlery for, Pete had been smart and given them a lunch where someone did not have to use cutlery. After Astre had won 12 times, Lois threw herself into one of the chairs that stood along the wall. Astre giggled and put the stick down, after which she sat down next to him.

"Are you tired of losing?" she asked him teasingly. Lois gave her an annoyed look but got up quickly when one shook the handle. Astre stood up next to him and saw over at the door where the king was standing with Mr. Bonnefoy. Astre looked at Lois, who looked frightened when the king came walking towards them.

"What is happening here?". Lois was about to open his mouth when Astre quickly responded.

"I'm beating your son in billiards. What else were we going to do inside this room, Henry? ” asked Astre, but made sure her sarcasm was out of her voice. Next to her, she could feel Lois quickly take her hand as a warning, but she was not afraid of Henry. Why would she? One wrong thing and there would be a war between France and England.

"My son? That I must say. He used to be the best of the kids in court, but it looks like he's finally been beaten. Shall we take a game? ”. The king was already in the process of taking a stick, while Mr. Bonnefoy collected the balls into a triangle except for the white ball. Lois grabbed her wrist while shaking his head, but Astre just shrugged.

"Okay". 

____________  
The battle between Astre and Henry lasted the rest of the day as Henry would not take well that Astre had won. After match number 8 Henry had given up and put his wand down in its holder, after which he left the room with Lois. Astre put her own stick in the holder, while Mr. Bonnefoy put the balls in their right place.

"Lady Phantomhive, if I'm not mistaken, you're from England, are you not?" asked Mr. Bonnefoy as they walked out the door together. Astre smiled at him and nodded as they walked down the Mirror Hall. Sir. Bonnefoy nodded affirmatively and looked around, after which he stopped Astre and himself.

"How is he?". Astre looked at him incomprehensibly. Him? Who was "him"?

"Excuse me who, Mr. Bonnefoy?" she asked him incomprehensibly. Was there one she should know from England that she did not? Mr. Bonnefoy blushed and looked around as he scratched his neck. For a man of being, he was very nervous almost like someone who was anxious about something.

"England, and just call me Francis," he said. Astre looked up at him with a puzzled look when her eyes suddenly became large and looked at him with a surprised expression.

"Are you France? I mean the nation." Francis nodded as he smiled at her. If Astre had had something in her hands then she would have dropped it on the spot.

There had been legends about people who were nations, but only the royals or those who had the authority over the nation knew it. Under no circumstances were they to reveal their secret, which many of them had kept. And then there were the nations that did not have, such as England and France. Astre had met England when she was quite young and had stood by her mother while attending a ball with Her Majesty Victoria the First of England. England had stood up against the wall and drank his wine while looking out over the people dancing, but when he had seen Astre standing with her mother he had gone to greet them nicely. Astre had not trusted him until he had shown his magic to her and revealed that he was the nation of England. Since then, she had kept that secret for him and his safety.

"He is fine. The last time I saw him, he was standing next to Queen Victoria, ”she said softly. Francis nodded gratefully and turned toward the dining room where Lois and Henry had walked through.

"I am pleased"

____________  
The next day went fast. Astre got up and put on her new dress, made by France's Queen Maria. It was light blue. The skirt went to her knees while she wore a jacket of the same color that went beyond her skirt. There were 10 buttons in total on her coat and were set in such that there were 5 buttons vertically. Under her jacket, she wore a white shirt that could only be seen at the top of her coat. Around her neck she had a black bow tied tightly and her stockings went all the way up to where her skirt stopped. Her hair had been braided into a French braid and went down to her hips.

She loved the dress and danced around in it while imagining she was on a meadow. She loved to play alone this way. But she had to quickly get out the door when she could hear Pete's footsteps towards the room.

"I'm here," she said, smiling at Lois, who was waiting for her at the entrance and looked at his parents, who had come down to say goodbye. Maria smiled big at her son, after which she kissed him on the nose and looked at Astre, who curtsied to her but was quickly gripped into a hug while Maria hugged tight. Lois and Henry simply shook hands and watched while the two females hugged. When Maria released Astre, Henry hurried to kiss her hand and called Pete to them.

"Make sure they leave safely." Pete nodded and started walking down towards their vehicle. Lois kissed his mother one last time and then went with Astre down to Pete. Together they left Versailles and set off for their real home and family.

____________  
When they arrived at Un Rose Fleurie there were more people than Astre had expected there would be. The new students all came together and looked confused as they looked around and the students who were older than Lois and her all walked around between each other while hugging each other hello. Lois helped Astre out the door while their luggage was picked up by the staff and brought into their rooms.

"There was not quite this much chaos when it was the first school day last year, was there?" Lois asked, looking around. Astre shook her head and looked around just as confused as Lois. While Lois and Astre walked up to the entrance together, many bowed their heads for Lois, which Astre felt a little bad about and began to lag a little behind so she wasn't looked at strangely, but Lois quickly grabbed her hand and ran away with her up to the entrance. They kept running down hallways and up the stairs before landing at Astre and Anne's room. Lois quickly opened the door and pushed them both into the room.

"What?!" Astre asked breathlessly and sat down on her bed while she looked at Lois for an explanation, but when Lois was about to answer the door swung open, and in came Anne and Liam. Oh no.

“What was it I just saw ?! You and Lois got out of the carriage together! ” Anne almost shouted. Liam walked over to Lois and gave him a funny look, which both Astre and Lois felt insecure about. Astre removed her gaze from Liam and looked at Anne, who was about to explode.

"I was on summer vacation with him, what did you expect?". Anne tilted her head as she assessed what had been said. Lois looked towards Liam and looked down at me.

"I should go. Come Liam ”Lois said quickly and pulled Liam with him as they both rushed out the door. Astre looked after them as she whispered ''traitor'' after them both. Suddenly the whole bed swung while Anne looked at her with inquisitive glances.

"Well…?". Astre would not escape this even if she could. Quickly she exhaled and told about her summer day with Lois. She told her about how she had gotten to know the king and queen. How she and Lois would spend most of their time in the garden, or exploring elsewhere on the castle grounds. She told of how it had been magical to be with Lois during Bastille Day. While she was telling about her life with Lois during the summer holidays, Anne was just lying and listening, which seemed strange to Astre.

"What about you?" she asked Anne. Anne woke up quickly and pointed to herself.

"Me?". Astre nodded. Anne got up from the bed and went to her own bed and threw herself.

"Not much really". Astre did not fall for it. Astre got up from her bed and sat down next to Anne. Slowly she began to fiddle with Anne's brown hair that just hung loosely around her.

"I do not believe that. What's really wrong? ” Anne got up slowly and looked at Astre with her sad green eyes.

"My mother has ordered me to marry… Nathan Valentin". Astre sat in shock. Nathan Valentin, who was always with Enzo Frambroise. The same person who had made sure to spread rumors about her on the first day of school and had everything against Englishmen. The very same person who had laughed at Anne when she dropped a can of paint over her school uniform when they were about to paint a painting for school.

"Why?". Anne shrugged and lay down next to Astre.

"His family has money, I guess. It is always a plus for my mother ”. Astre caressed Anne as she silenced the tears falling down Anne's cheeks.

"It's probably more because his family is in the royal court, don't you think?" Anne nodded and pulled Astre down on the bed. Together they lay the rest of the day looking up at the ceiling while skipping several of the things they should have been involved in. Later in the day, Lissa came and visited them until the day was over and had to slip away again.

As Astre got up from the sleeping Anne and her bed, an envelope came flying in through the crack. Slowly, Astre sat down and began to read it. It was from Liam who said he would always be with Anne and they just had to tell when they needed a friend nearby. Astre smiled down at the letter and laid it on Anne's bedside table and began to change out of the dress for her white nightgown. Then she braided her ponytail out and brushed it before blowing out the candlestick and laying down under her duvet.


	28. The first school day in the third year

The next morning started like all the other first school days and regular school days. Astre and Anne got up around the same time and started getting ready. The girls brushed their hair, set it up, or let it hang. Put on their uniforms and maybe a pair of jewelry or other accessories. Eventually, they put on their shoes and walked arm in arm out the door.

In the morning, together with the other students, they would go down to the royal chapel and listen to their principal, Lord Jimmy Blanc also known as Professor Blanc, preach and give it hope of the faith and its many wonders. Together with Anne, Astre would stand on the right side of the chapel with the blues, while the royals were right up by Professor Blanc and the other professors on a balcony above the students.

After the sermon, the students will go to the dining room with the professors and would each sit at their year grade table. The hall would be crammed with students, food, and servants, who would come and go as they pleased. Every morning they would get breakfast that would last until lunch. People sat with their friends and talk while more came along. The same goes for Astre and Anne.

"Good morning!" Anne chirped as she sat down next to Liam and gave him a shiny smile. Astre smiled at them as she saw how Liam smiled just as big at her and hugged her. Astre sat down next to Lissa and quickly greeted the good morning, after which she began to eat off her food, but was quickly interrupted by the royals who came in the door.

Like the other students, Astre stood up and curtsied to the royals. It was a new rule that had been made by the professor. Lois came over and stroked Astre's arm, after which he sat down next to her. Carlos just smiled at Anne and bumped down next to her. Once the other royals had sat down, the rest of the students could sit down.

"It's a wonderful idea the professors have come up with," chirped Carlos, and began pouring juice to the others. Lois rocked a little on his feet while he considered it and Astre just cut a grimace at him. Anne was about to pour juice at his head if it had not been for the fact that Liam had hurried to take her glass. Lissa was, as always, quiet. While eating, three reds sat down next to them. They sat beside Carlos and Lois.

"Good morning, your Highnesses. What adventures do you think will happen today? ” asked Enzo, as he toasted with Lois, who had such a firm grip on his glass that one could see his knuckle turn white. Astre quickly put her hand on his arm and smiled up at him. He did not smile again but squeezed her hand as a thank you.

"I have heard that we are going to study for the Spanish presentation in December," Astre said quickly, which made the others look at her. The horror in the eyes of several of her friends and Enzo's friends shone brightly.

"What?!" exclaimed Liam. Lissa put her glass down and began to panic quietly. Anne's lightning gaze towards Nathan disappeared at once and looked towards Astre. Carlos smiled to himself as he took a sip from his glass.

"Where did you hear that from?" asked Pauline, who was sitting next to Nathan with a worried expression on her face. Maybe there was something inside her that was not only hatred of the English.

"I heard it from Professor Dubois while she was talking to Professor Vert. I would have liked to have said something, but I thought we should hear it in our Spanish lessons, which would come soon, ” replied Astre, as she took a strawberry up to her mouth and chewed on it. Pauline looked away again while her breakfast suddenly became very exciting.

"It was a nice morning. Great way to ruin it Astre. Typical Englishmen see nothing but seriousness and study. They are all nerds, ” Enzo said mockingly. Carlos put his glass down and looked with pointed eyes at Enzo while Lois growled. Astre pushed her food away and had suddenly lost her appetite to eat more. But somewhere in that sentence, Enzo was not wrong. Her whole family was someone who worked hard for what they wanted. Her mother had always been the best at Un Rose Fleurie. Her father worked with a secret organization, while her brother was clever enough to flatter every single person that existed. Astre sat in silence while her friends were about to kill Enzo when something inside her brain ran around in a circle.

_Are you loved?_

At first, she had thought he meant her family back home in England, but now that she could see the tensity between those who had once been friends, she finally understood the question. She turned to Enzo.

"Do you miss Carlos and Lois, Enzo?" she asked. Enzo looked at her in surprise, after which he shifted his gaze between Lois and Carlos. Lois had set his glass down on the table and looked questioningly at Enzo, while Carlos had stopped sending glances full of lightning.

Enzo moved a little uneasily on the chair as he tried to look elsewhere than at Astre, but that did not stop her from asking again.

"Enzo, you missed the friendship you used to have with Carlos or Lois, right?" This time, all her friends looked at Enzo. He did not answer but simply nodded. Astre nodded understandingly. How many times had she not been mean against Ciel because he had been living a new life without her? As the professor got up to go out to their premises, Astre got up and laid a hand on the table next to Enzo.

"Come and study with us later". It was not an invitation and Enzo knew it. It was an order. An order even he could not say no to, which was why many were afraid of her.

____________

The Spanish lesson was quickly over. It started with Professor Dubois walking into the room and sitting down on the table in front of them. She had seemed tired but fresh enough to give them an exercise. The exercise had consisted of them reading aloud everything they had learned about the last two years and giving her a half roll of parchment with a topic they would work on under it the topic, which would be the same one they would write about in their Spanish presentation.

"What a lesson" Anne complained and stretched her whole body as she walked with Astre down the hall towards the other end of the castle. Astre smiled at her as she read her Latin homework through just to be sure what they were going to learn. This year they were going to have Professor Rouge in Latin, which Astre had been looking forward to.

"I do not hope we will do the same in Latin". Astre looked up from his book and closed it as they walked up the stairs to the 1st floor.

"If you are lucky, we just have to do assignments or translate the text". Anne clenched her fingers so it looked like she was praying to god for the happiness it would be just to do it. When Astre pushed the door open to their room, both girls were surprised by the students inside the room. Red and Blue were going to have a class together for the first time without other colors.

Out in the corner of Astre's eye was Pauline pointing at them and whispering something to Nathan. Anne quickly ran up to the table to see where she should sit while Astre waited. Pauline jumped down from the table and walked over to Astre while smiling at her.

"Hello, Lady Phantomhive," she said in English with a really thick French accent. Astre rolled her eyes and looked at her.

“Thought you could understand my French. Shall we try again? ”. Pauline cut her face off and went to Enzo Nathan again and started laughing, but when Astre looked at Enzo she discovered that he was not laughing. He sat fiddling with the white buttons on his shirt, keeping his sight down to the floor.

Anne grabbed her by the shoulders and began to turn her away from the red trio.

"So where are we sitting?" She asked Anne. Anne smiled at her and showed her to their place. When Astre had sat down, Professor Rouge came in the door. Her dark brown hair had been set up in a long braid that hung down from her shoulder. The dress was red with white lace around the edges.

"Good morning class. I'm Professor Rouge as many of you know, but what you do not know is that in this class we must not only learn Latin. I want to switch between Latin, Greek, and sometimes Ancient Greek. I think it is important to know all languages. The way I want to present them and get you to learn them is that sometimes you will have to write a song or make a play. Today you have read a passage from your Latin book about Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, better known as Augustus, ”she said, walking between the wooden tables at which students sat.

Astre glanced at Anne, who looked like she was about to give up. Anne was not an artistic person. The last time Anne tried to do something creative, Professor Vert had to ask her to read homework, which she did not mind. Anne may not have looked like someone who loved to read homework, but she did.

"Today I want you to write a poem about how Augustus saved Rome. The language must, of course, be French or Latin. If you can write it in English, it's also welcome, ”she said, blinking in Astre's direction. Anne tore at Astre's arm as she smiled at her. However, she just nodded back.

"Get started". Astre found parchment and ink, after which she found her book and began to write rhymes that could rhyme with the different words she could come up with. Next to her, was Anne staring down at her parchment and not writing a single word down.

"Anne…?". Anne shook herself out of her daydream. She quickly sent a smile to her and began writing a poem down.

While they sat and wrote their poems, Astre sat and looked at Anne when she could feel that something was wrong, but Anne just wanted to smile at her. Why would she not tell the truth to her friend?

After class, Anne was the first out of the door.

____________

Astre walked down to their room as she searched for Anne. Anne had slipped right after class, which had been uncomfortable for Astre. Why would Anne not tell her what was wrong?

Astre went down the hall to their rooms and was about to open the door to their room when she heard a crying and a comforting voice. Astre leaned in towards the door and started listening.

"Everything will be fine. We will sort this out"

"But what if it doesn't! What if I have to live with him forever?!"

"I won't happen. You and I will end up together. I promise". 

"...".

"Sunshine. I need you to hold out a little longer. You and I will convince our parents". 

Astre felt she had been standing out in the hallway long enough and tossed her books right in front of the door, after which she ran off to the dining room to find her friends. What she had heard inside her room was not something she was involved in and therefore she should not interfere.

Astre ran down the hallways and into the dining room, after which she sat breathlessly down next to Carlos while taking a big sip from his water. Carlos held up his hand to say she should just take care of herself. Lois sat across from her and saw something scowling at Carlos, who quickly took his glass from Astre. Strange.

"What happened, beautiful?" Carlos asked teasingly, taking a sip of his glass. Astre shrugged as she slowly fell silent.

"I just heard something I should not have heard from inside my room. Or something I should not interfere in," she said, beginning to explain what she had heard. Lois sat nodding as he listened, opposite Carlos who had fallen into conversation with Lissa.

"Who do you think Anne was with?" Lois asked, but he got the answer when he saw Anne and Liam enter the dining room together. Lois moved across Astre so Anne and Liam could sit next to each other. Astre smiled at Anne, who was fiddling with her food. Lois whispered to Liam and Liam whispered again. When they had finished whispering, Astre looked towards Lois for an answer, but Lois just shrugged. Wonderful.

"May I sit here?" Astre turned to the side and saw Enzo standing a little awkwardly. Astre struck out her hand like a welcome hand. Slowly, Enzo sat down next to her and smiled at her, after which he began to eat his food. Lois growled quietly but stopped as Astre stroked his shins.

"Where are the others?" Carlos asked coldly. Astre looked sternly at him, but Enzo just nodded towards the doors, where Pauline and Nathan came walking.

Pauline and Nathan whispered to each other about something, but looked very distracted until they sat down opposite Enzo out of sheer reflex, Astre guessed. Pauline, had her hair pulled up and looked like something Astre could not quite describe, while Nathan looked at her with… was that heart eyes?

"Anyway, how was your English class?" asked Carlos Liam, looking at him. Liam looked at Anne one more time before looking at Carlos. Liam shrugged and was about to respond as Lissa shushed at them all. All 9 looked at her as if to ask why she was shushing on them, but when she pointed up to the professor's table, Astre could see why.

Professor Blanc had risen from his chair and looked out over the hall, waiting for people to silence themselves. It had not exactly gone according to his plan if one asked Astre. After a while, all the students were quiet and looked up at their professor with a listening ear. He smiled big and cleared his throat.

“As you probably know, it's your first school day, but that does not mean you can just relax and do your homework and show up for class. When you have free time, your colors must have prepared for the ball of the fallen leaves that will come here on October 25th. As you all probably know, the ball comes every three years, ” he said and silenced the students who had started making noise around them. Professor Jaune came with a roll of parchment and gave it to him.

"I will now read the colors assignments:

\- The blues will stand for the invitations.

\- The reds will be responsible for the music.

\- The yellows will be responsible for what food we should have, how long the party should be held, etc.

\- The greens will stand for what plants, trees, and leaves can be inside the dance hall.

\- The purple ones will be responsible for ordering everything the yellow and green ones need. ”.

When Professor Blanc had finished telling the students what he expected of them, left he the room followed by the other professors. Astre looked towards the other 8 and was surprised by what had just happened.

"So there is both a ball and a presentation?". Next to her, she could hear Enzo tsked annoyed at her comment.


	29. Only three days left

In the evenings, while Astre lay in her bed, Anne looked down at her letter which she had read aloud several times. After the announcement at the dinner table and the rest of the day's activities, Astre and her friends had sat down in the reading room and started studying their Spanish presentation. Astre had expected Enzo to come, but by the time their bedtimes were up, Astre had been disappointed. Anne had assured her that it was only good that Enzo had not come, but there was something inside her that had hoped that he would have come.

Now Astre was lying in her bed looking up at the ceiling while Anne read her letter aloud to her for the 15th time in a row.

“Dear sunshine. You have been so absent since you had come home from your family but fear not. Whatever you think will happen or whatever you think will hurt you, I will always be with you. Greetings, the only one, Liam ”. Anne sighed and hugged her letter all the way to her while she hummed quietly to herself. Astre turned and lay with her back to her while she closed her eyes.

"Do you really think Liam and I can get through this?" asked Anne, looking at her. Astre made a sound and turned around towards Anne.

"Everything is possible for you two". Anne smiled big and lay down on her back as she smiled up at the ceiling. Astre just sighed and turned around.

____________

Several days had passed and finally, there were only three days to the fallen leaf ball. All the brown, golden hallways with paintings painted on the walls were covered with different kinds of leaves. The chandeliers were covered with vines in orange, yellow, red, and brown colors. On the professors' tables, pumpkins and apples had been placed and in the corners around the corridors, there had been placed trees that had either lost their leaves or were about to lose their leaves. The invitations had been sent out and several families had sent replies back.

All the students were excited. Several of the girls had ordered their dresses in advance, while the boys had made sure to order suits. Some of them had even planned who they would take to the party.

Anne had been completely hyper to hold the ballet and had made sure they could order the right dresses for the ballet, but Astre had said she did not need to order for her.

That same evening, Lissa sat with Anne and Astre in their room, trying all sorts of hair techniques on Anne. Astre sat and laughed at Anne as her hair sat in several directions.

"What about this style?" Lissa asked, holding up the braid in front of Astre. Anne sat completely still while she waited for Astre's answer. The hair was set up in a tall bun more than several layers of Anne's long hair. The braids had been put into the large bun all around. Eventually, a hat had been put on Anne's head with the perfect balance. Astre was quiet for a long time before she ended up shrugging.

"It's really nicely made…, but I don't think it suits Anne. Maybe for you Lissa, ” Astre said distractingly, trying not to sound too strict. Anne and Lissa looked at each other, after which they both nodded and began to hustle the bun up again.

Astre looked at the clock and saw what time it was. She quickly got up from her bed and took her pink dress from the closet with her, after which she quickly said goodbye to her friends and ran down the hall while she went looking for the sewing room.

As she ran down the hall, she came across one of the professors, who was immersed in his work to have noticed Astre. He quickly stopped as Astre was only three seconds from hitting him.

“Lady Phantomhive, what a surprise. What are you doing here though? Shouldn't you go out and see what exciting things you can find out at the tailors for the ballet tomorrow? ” he asked, smiling at her. Astre held her dress up in front of him and just smiled.

"I was going to turn this into something more beautiful. Do they know where the sewing room is, Professor? ”. The professor looked surprised, but when he saw how she was still wearing her uniform while the other students had put on their everyday dresses or clothes, he understood that Astre had not been taken off school yet. The professor smiled at her and pointed down the hallway, making a small buck with his hand to the left.

"Just go down the hall and then to the left. Between two candlesticks you would very much like to find a secret door to the sewing room. Good luck ” the professor replied smiling and then walked past Astre as he immersed himself in his book.

Astre ran further down the hall and then went to the left, after which she landed in front of a closed door. She put her head at the door to hear if there were any people on the other side, but it did not sound like that. She slowly pushed the door open and saw herself standing in a large room that was larger than the room she used to be in with the blues when they were to meet in their living room. Down from the ceiling hung three chandeliers and to her right were four windows. Opposite the windows were two doors located between two candlesticks that hung up the wall.

Astre walked past the first table, which was covered with a red tablecloth and had a cheese bell over a candlestick. In front of the first door was a chair that backed it. Quickly, Astre moved the chair and opened the door carefully. On the other side of the door were boxes of boxes of sewing thread. Astre closed the door behind her and went to the other door and opened it.

On the other side of the door was the most magnificent sewing room. Up and down all four walls were shelves of fabric. Drawers with sewing thread, needles, measuring tape, and other useful things. A black mannequin doll stood next to a table with a sewing machine. Astre quickly threw her pink dress on the mannequin and just as quietly began to bustle the sewstings up so she could get the pink part off. The dress was white but filled with pink flowers that had been sewn together to look like a shawl that lay over the skirt and went down like a triangle from the top of the top and all the way down to the end of the skirt.

When she had taken off all the flowers of her dress, she got up from the skirt of her dress and began to roll off her sleeves, after which she went to one of the fabric shelves and found a dark blue color that resembled the night sky of October. With a clear thought and soft hands, she began to cut and sew in the blue fabric.

Astre tried to imitate the flowers that had been sitting on her dress and started sewing them together so that they sat in the same pattern as the previous pink flowers had done. She then started making sleeves that would hang around her shoulders instead of the sleeves that had sat all the way up at her neck.

After sitting and sewing with a needle and thread, Astre was finally done with her dress. She slowly took it off the mannequin, after which she cleaned up after herself. When she had taken off her dress and everything was tidy, she opened the door to the sewing room and hurried out of the room.

____________

When Astre came up to her room, Lissa and Anne were sitting and talking to each other. They had not left their seats after Astre had left and were still sitting and playing with their hair. This time, however, Liam and Carlos had come to visit. Astre closed the door behind her as she looked towards her four friends who were sitting a little scattered around the room. Lissa sat on the chair between the beds while Anne stood behind her, playing with her hair. Liam lay on his back on Anne's bed while Carlos sat against the wall on Astre's. They all wore their everyday clothes and looked like fine nobles who had just come to visit for tea. Astre opened her wardrobe and hung her new dress on a hanger, then closed the closet.

"Hello, Beautiful. How has your day been so far? ” Carlos asked as Astre threw herself down next to him. Lissa sat completely still and listened while Astre answered.

Astre told him about how she had been sent out to deliver the last letters she and Anne had written, and how Professor Rouge would talk to her about her extra hours. Then she told how she was going to swap her pink dress out with a dress she actually wanted to wear and how she had encountered Professor Jaune when he had gone down the hall.

"Sounds like a hard day. And it's not even over yet, ” he said, grinning and smiling at her. Astre sat up slowly and looked at him with her narrow eyes.

"What do you mean?". Anne and Liam looked at each other and then looked at Lissa, who was just as quiet as the others. Carlos smiled at her and then jumped on the bed, after which he went and opened the door. On the other side, Lois stood with a raised hand ready to knock on the door. Anne quickly invited him into the room and watched as Lois came over and stood next to Carlos.

"What are you doing here? I thought you said you had things to do, ” said Astre a little annoyed. Lois just smiled at her and signaled for her to follow. Astre got up quietly from the bed and walked towards the door with Lois and looked at Anne, who just shrugged. Astre sighed and closed the door behind her, after which she followed Lois.

____________

"Where are we heading?" asked Astre for the seventh time as Lois led her down the hall. Astre had never been to this part of the castle. She had always stayed on the northeast and southwest side of the school. She and Lois went through the hallway and two rooms before going to the left and landing at a large room where Astre had never been. Lois took Astre's hand and led her under the arch, after which he looked for something behind him.

"Lois, what are we doing here?" asked Astre, looking at Lois with a look full of wonder. Lois just smiled at her, after which he quickly turned around and handed a flower out to her that looked exactly the same kind of flower, as the one he had given her during the summer holidays.

Astre looked on with an inquisitive gaze as she looked for something inside his eyes. Lois, on the other hand, stood shaking as he waited for her to take his rose.

"Lois, what's going on here?" Astre had heard of people giving each other praise when they wanted to express their love, but it had mostly been from the love novels she had read. This was the real-life and the life Astre had, it was not certain that there was room for her to feel that feeling.

Lois shook himself a little and took Astre's hand in his, after which he pulled her a little closer to him. Astre did not say anything. Lois then held the rose up in front of her and then whispered.

"Do you want to be my dance partner?" Astre looked up at him and slowly began to laugh, after which she pushed herself out of his arms. Lois looked at her confused as he still stood holding the rose up in front of her. When Astre had finished laughing, she turned to Lois and took the flower.

"Lois, I want to be your dance partner, but...............". She paused.

"I do not think it will be accepted. Most of all, because you are the crown prince of the country and I am from England, ”said Astre, turning away from Lois while sniffing at the flower. Lois tried to protest, but Astre interrupted him.

"And besides. I think it's best you dance with one of the French girls. After all, they are accepted for when you get married ”. Astre then went to Lois and handed the flower to him, but Lois refused. Instead, he grabbed her around her wrist while looking for something in her eyes that indicated she wanted to be with him as his partner, but Astre had made sure to hide it away.

Lois let go of Astre and turned away and opened the door, after which he looked back at Astre, who was standing and smiling with a small smile at him.

"I understand. You are probably right in one way or another”. And with those words, he went out the door.

____________

Astre smiled until the door closed behind him and she fell directly to the floor. Her tears rolled down her cheeks and she snorted softly. She kept the flower in her hand, which was the only thing that could hold her up.

Astre knew what she had done was right, but she felt so shattered and cold. The warmth she had felt when she was with _him_ had disappeared and now she stood alone in a cold room, alone in the dark. She hugged the flower up to her as she sat down on the floor.

"I did the right thing. I did the right thing. I did the right thing, ”she said to herself over and over, as if to convince herself that she had actually done the right thing, but as she looked towards her flower, which had now been completely smashed by the way she had hugged it on, she just sat completely still, touching the leaves that had fallen off it.

"I know I did the right thing." She got up from the floor and threw the flower into the flower vase that stood around the corner.

Perhaps Astre had regretted saying no. Maybe she had regretted saying the words that had come out of her mouth, but she had no choice and she knew it well. She and Lois' lives were never meant for them to be together as friends or anything.

They both knew it well, but still, they had become friends and Astre did not want it any longer than that. She understood no emotion other than being left behind or seen as a friend. So why should she understand other emotions?

As Astre walked down the hallways to her room, she did not let herself be noticed by the many people who had already found their partner. She walked past Enzo, who was sitting with one of the other girls from the red department who was also her age.

Astre quickly passed by, hoping not to be seen, but it was too late.

"Hey, Lady Phantomhive. How come you do not have a prince following you? ” he asked. The others laughed as they looked at each other. Astre took a deep breath and turned wearily and slowly towards him.

"He got tired of having to follow me, so he ended up following everyone but a blonde snop like you, Enzo." Without looking back, Astre simply walked up the stairs leading up to the hall where her room lay.


	30. Not the ball she dreamt for

Finally, it was time for the ball. Anne sat and jumped on the chair while Lissa was braiding her hair. Astre had not yet gotten up from her bed and was sitting and reading in one of the books she had been given by her friends. When Anne's hair had been braided completely, Lissa sat down on the chair and Anne began to braid her hair.

"I can't wait to dance around the hall," Anne said, swaying a little as she made sure one of the golden braids was put in place. Astre looked up from her book and just sighed, after which she looked down at her book again.

"Same here. Me and Lord Aléatoire have been waiting for this moment for a long time hehe ”Lissa said dreamingly as she looked towards the door with dreamy eyes. Astre glanced up at the clock and saw that there were only a few hours left before the ballet.

She laid her book down next to her and jumped out of bed, after which she went to sit down in front of her mirror and quietly brushed her hair while listening to Lissa and Anne's conversation. As she brushed her hair, she looked into the mirror and saw how the blue-gray hair slid past her brush and landed on her arm.

Although Anne and Lissa talked loudly, Astre sat and looked quietly at her reflection, which showed a girl who had lost her interest in life. This whole evening was just another stupid thing she had done wrong. It was because she absolutely had to say no to Lois. But if she had gone with him, she would have been sent home immediately, because no one at this school would have approved her as his dance partner.

Astre did not want to go home. She did not want to go back where she was only seen as a tool for marriages and alliances between families. Here she was herself and could decide who she wanted to talk to and when she wanted to do something. No one here expected anything from her and accepted her when she had something specific to tell.

After a while, Astre had put on her dress and had her hair sit in a smooth and polished bun that had no small hairs sticking out in all directions. Around the bun, she had braided small braids and tied them around it, to make the small hair bands disappear so it looked like she had put it all up with her braids.

As she turned around she looked at Anne and Lissa who were beautiful in their dresses.

Lissa had chosen to wear a red dress with orange laces. The orange color was not strong and could therefore compliment her hair. The red color was more like a really dark pink-red, which was the same color her shoes were.

Anne was in a dark green dress with white laces around the edge of her collar. There were small green and orange leaves sewn on the dress around her arms and around her neck collar. Behind her hung a shawl that had had small flower petals embroidered around the entire edge. Her ballerinas were black, but that did not mean much as you could not see them anyway.

Lissa was the first to be picked up. Aléatoire had knocked gently on the door and had held a bouquet of flowers in his one hand. Anne had been the one who had opened the door and smiled big at Lissa, who had quickly got up from the chair and almost ran towards him. Astre sat on his bed and looked up and down the Aléatoire. Aléatoire was dressed very simply. A black suit with a yellow tie and a yellow rose to sit on his jacket. His red hair, however, was set in a neat braid.

"See you in the ballroom," Lissa said happily, taking Aléatoire down to the ballroom. Astre waved at her and turned to Anne, who slowly closed the door. When the door finally gave its usual click, Anne went and sat down next to Astre. Astre was quiet and just smiled at her, after which she took Anne's hand and squeezed it.

"I think there's a certain gentleman out there waiting for you," she whispered, nodding toward the door. Astre had noticed a shadow at the door, which looked a lot like Liam. Anne got up quickly and started straightening her dress but Astre went and quickly took her hands.

"You look wonderful. Go out there and dance with him ”. Anne turned to her, after which she hugged her. Astre hugged again, but her hug was nowhere near as hard as Anne's. When they let go of each other, Anne went and opened the door, but instead of going out and receiving Liam's arm, which otherwise had it outstretched, she turned around and looked at Astre.

"Are you coming?". Astre looked at her with a pleading look, which asked Anne to go down and have fun without her, but Anne did not take a step without her. Liam had the same idea, for he stretched out his arm and held out a blue rose from the bouquet that Anne had received from him.

“Follow as a friend. This evening will not be the same without you, Astre, ”he said. His voice seemed harsh while his facial expression was the complete opposite. Astre smiled resignedly and accepted the rose. Then she took Anne's arm and walked arm in arm with her and Liam down to the dance hall.

____________  
The ballroom was magnificent. Windows and doors were covered with leaves that fell from the ceiling. Candlesticks were dressed in green and orange lace, while around the corners of each window and the ballroom, were pumpkins in different shapes and colors. The music in the room was low because no one was dancing around on the floor yet. People stood in their own friend groups and talked with small voices. Most dresses and suits were either red, yellow, green, or black. Some, like Astre, had chosen to take the color whose part of the colors they came from.

Lissa stood with her date Aléatoire, scouting around for someone who wanted to talk to them. Astre could find neither Carlos nor Lois anywhere in the room, but then again she could not find a single royal in the room either. Where were they? Astre quickly released Anne's arm and went to Lissa, while Liam and Anne went to sign up to dance. Something you could only do if you had a dance partner.

"Lissa and Lord Aléatoire". Lissa turned around and smiled at her while Astre and Aléatoire greeted each other nicely.

"Hi, Astre. What a wonderful evening, right? Where is your partner? ” she asked, looking around the room. Astre blinked a few times as she stood looking for clues in the sentence that could point to it being Lissa she was talking to and not some stranger.

"I… ehm… do not have one…" she said quietly and looked down at the floor. Lissa stopped looking around the room and looked at her.

"Really?". Astre nodded and pulled her fingers nervously. Aléatoire looked with a surprised look but did not say a word. Had he intended to be quiet all evening? Luckily for Astre, she did not have to stand in the awkward silence for much longer, as Anne and Liam came walking towards them and talked to Lissa and her partner. As time went on, Astre was still standing looking for their two royal friends when a clink sounded against the glass.

"Ladies and gentlemen. May I introduce you to another year with the ball of the falling leaves and may I present the first dancers on the floor to join us. May I present the royals from the surrounding countries "said Professor Blanc and then stepped aside.

Around them, people began to clap and smile at the entrance, of which about 10 people came in the door and went with high-raised heads to face each other. Slowly the music began to play.

It was a slow dance. The dance was about walking with small steps that came with the music. One step forward, one step back, one turn to your partner, greet your partner, turn away from your partner and continue the process 4 times. When the process has been run through 4 times, you take your partner's right hand and turn towards them, after which you go 1 step towards them, 1 step backward, swing the lady around, swing the lady back and start the process again.

Astre stood next to Liam while she watched the dancers, but there was one that caught her eye. His black flat hair, which otherwise used to hang in front of his eyes, had been brushed back so that everyone could see his familiar brown eyes. He had a focused facial expression towards his dance partner, who was the princess of the Kingdom of Bavaria, which lies under Germany.

After the dance, everyone clapped and smiled at each other while the dancers bowed and nodded to each other. After the dance, several dances began to come up where anyone who had a dance partner could dance. Astre stood in the corner and drank from her glass while she watched her friends have fun with their dance partners.

"What does a lonely flower, like them, do here, Lady Phantomhive?" one asked behind her. Astre turned her attention away from Lois and looked at Professor Rouge. She nodded quickly to her and looked down into her glass.

"I don't have a partner". 

"Mmm yes, I can see that. It surprised me to see your name was not on the dance list. But could it be because there is a special person you want to dance with? ” she asked, smiling at Astre. Astre had nearly dropped her glass when she looked at the professor. The professor laughed at her and nodded towards Lois.

"Do you really think we elders can't see what is happening before our eyes? You and him haven't let go of each other's gaze ever since he came in through that door, ”she said, taking a sip of her glass. Astre stood and was silent. Yes, she had probably not let go of Lois's eyes, but he had not looked for her at any time.

"I do not think we can dance. I rejected him when he asked ”she said quietly and saw how Anne had been swung around by Liam. Professor Rouge hummed understandingly and emptied his glass.

"Understandably. You two come from two different countries and worlds. You will never be able to find each other in the middle, ”she said, turning to one of the jugs. Astre just nodded in agreement.

"Besides, he is promised away to her princess Elisabeth Marie, but if you ask me she is only in an arranged marriage with him, so her parents still can keep the very small kingdom they have," said the professor and drank on. Astre got cold all over her body. Lois was already promised away to another. Why had she been so stupid as to think others were not promised away to someone?

"But of course that does not mean that you can not fall for each other and get the best out of your time at this school. However, with the princess in the way, it might be a little difficult, ”she said and took a sip from her glass, which was already on its way to becoming empty again. Astre looked at her and then looked at Lois and Elizabeth, who seemed to be laughing at each other.

"Really?". Professor Rouge grumbled something incomprehensible and then nodded, after which she sat down on one of the chairs standing nearby.

"Believe me, it has not been a problem before. Ask your mother yourself. … What in the world is wrong with this juice? ... ”. Astre turned hopefully towards Lois, who was still dancing with Elisabeth.

When the dance stopped and people started pulling away from the dance floor so that more people could come, Lois came walking with Elisabeth to one of the bottles that stood next to Astre. He poured the red juice into two glasses and gave one to his partner, who gladly accepted the glass.

Astre had to admit that Elisabeth was adorable. Her beautiful wavy light brown curls, that fell over her shoulders like something only most people could wish for. The clear eyes that shone in the light and the perfect dress that sat on her perfect body. If Astre had been Lois, she would have clearly chosen Elisabeth over herself too.

"What a night. Don't you think so, Lady Phantomhive?" asked the princess, while taking a sip of her glass. Astre just nodded at her. Lois glanced briefly at Astre and walked over to Carlos to give him a glass.

"However, I wish his highness wasn't so boring. When he dances with me, it seems as if he has his attention directed in a completely different place than on me. Do you understand?". Astre just nodded and took a small sip from her glass. The princess kept talking about Lois and how she would soon be Queen of France. Astre wanted to pull her ears off.

"But the best thing is that when I get married to him, I intend to use his power and his money to get my father's little kingdom expanded to become the entire Germany."

"What about the people of this country?" Astre asked her, pouring some more juice into her glass. What? It made her warm.

"The people don't matter. It is about power and money, not the opinion of the people ”. Astre let out a low chuckle and quickly turned away from her, after which she turned her attention to Elisabeth.

"The last time I checked, it was that attitude that almost got the French Monarch removed forever. By the citizens of this country might I add. If you ask me, I'd rather think of my own people before I think of anything else, ”Astre said coldly, taking a big sip from her glass. Elisabeth looked at her angrily.

"Just wait. When I am married to his highness, I attack England first, and get you beheaded for your words ”. Astre just rolled her eyes and took a sip from her glass.

"Not if I marry him first." The princess froze and looked at her with furious eyes. Astre simply gave her expressionless eyes and turned her attention towards the dancers instead. The princess did not like that. She tipped her glass down against her dress and got all her white part of the dress, red. She screamed and looked at Astre with an insidious smile, after which she pushed Astre's glass out of her hand so that it rolled down right in front of her.

"Look what you have done!" cried Elisabeth. Astre was paralyzed to the spot.

"What happened?!" exclaimed Lois, coming almost constantly to Astre and Elisabeth. Elisabeth grabbed him by the shoulders and cried down into his shoulders. Astre was just about to explain it to him when Elisabeth exclaimed,

"Lois help me. Astre got angry at something I said and threw red juice at me! ”. Astre was speechless. She looked at Lois to find something that might indicate that he did not believe in the princess, but it was already too late. Some of the other royals came running to help Elisabeth, while others made sure to ask if she was okay. The music had long since stopped and everyone was looking towards Lois and Astre. Astre's cups were still lying on the floor where the red puddle was, and Astre was still paralyzed to the spot.

"How could you?" asked Lois. Astre tried to open her mouth and explain herself, but not a word came. What had the princess said? Many things, but nothing where Astre had sprayed juice on her. She had not even sprayed anything towards her. Her cup was empty.

"But… but… I" she tried to say, but Lois just shook his head and turned away from her. Astre looked with a pleading look at Anne, but she turned away from her just as Liam and Lissa did.

No one. She had no one to come and help her. Astre quickly grabbed her dress' skirt and ran out of the ballroom. She did not stop even though the professors shouted her name. She just ran and ran. Down the hallways and up the stairs, after which she tore the door open to her room and slammed it behind her. She then fell to the floor next to her bed and cried.

She was once again alone.


End file.
